The real estate market for this year has a positive outlook from economists anticipating that home sales should be robust while Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac speculate that rates should stay low. In terms of what is actually happening as of late, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) has recently shared a report claiming that home sales have been showing substantial growth.

 

 

The total number of home sales of single family homes, townhomes, condos and co-ops have increased at the end of 2020 during the month of December by 0.7% from the month before. Comparing growth year over year was most notable as sales were up by 22.2% from the same time in 2019.

 

"Home sales rose in December, and for 2020 as a whole, we saw sales perform at their highest levels since 2006, despite the pandemic," said Lawrence Yun, NAR's chief economist. "What's even better is that this momentum is likely to carry into the new year, with more buyers expected to enter the market."

 

 

At the end of 2020, housing inventory remained tighter than ever. The total number of available properties for sale decreased 16.4% in December from the month before and by comparison to 2019 at this time was down by a significant 23%. This had made the available inventory to sit at an all time low of 1.9 months of supply at the current sales pace.

 

 

Properties were on the market for sale for an average of 21 days in December of 2020. With the lack of inventory at this time the average time on the market was much lower than December of 2019 at 41 days.

 

 

Home loan rates were at extreme lows at the end of the year with Freddie Mac sharing that the average commitment rate for a 30 year fixed mortgage had fallen to as low as 2.68%. By comparison, the average rate for all of 2020 was 3.11%