Market Pauses but Stays Hot

December 18, 2020
Share this on:
This year’s real estate market has proven to be resilient. After the spring’s lockdowns had ended we saw buyers resuming searches with sellers soon after beginning to list their homes for sale. With mortgage rates staying extremely low market activity continues to be fueled as we see home prices steadily increase all summer and into early fall.

As soon as early November had come, buyers and sellers paused while coronavirus cases increased and the presidential election was upon us according to a report from Realtor.com. The number of new listings slowed while the total number of homes for sale also saw a slight decline with inventory lower than where it was last year at this time. This void of available homes is causing buyers to continue to compete with their offers. Per the report, this year homes were spending on average 13 fewer days on the market than a year ago.

As far as home prices go, listing prices have shown a steady pattern of increases by nearly 13% over last year. Danielle Hale, Realtor.com’s chief economist states “With mortgage rates expected to rise on news of a likely vaccine, buyers may have reason to jump back in and find a home sooner rather than later, but sellers may be more inclined to stay on hold. Thus, even as overall activity slows, we may very well see continued price growth and quick sales.”

The year 2020 has been anything but typical with respect to any kind of traditional market patterns. In so many areas of the country we do typically see normal slowdowns as fall hits around the holidays. This slower pace in the market, although perhaps a bit early, is often the case at this time. Most often things will resume to a faster pace after the first of the year which is only a few days away.