Real Estate Market Takes a Break But Remains Hot

The latest trends show a slight fall cool down

The real estate market this year has proven to be both strong and resilient. After the spring’s hurdles with lockdowns, once restrictions were softened we soon saw buyers resuming searches and sellers shortly after beginning to list their homes for sale. Extremely low rates are powering activity as we watch home prices steadily increase through the summer and into early fall. 

Once early November arrived buyers and sellers took a break while coronavirus cases showed increases and the presidential election was upon us according to a report from Realtor.com. New listings slipped while the total number of homes on the market for sale also saw a slight dip with inventory below where it was last year at this time. This shortage of available homes is causing buyers to compete with their offers. According to the report, this year homes were staying on the market on average 13 fewer days than a year ago. 

In the property values arena, 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 of 2020 has been anything but typical with respect to any kind of typical real estate market patterns. In many areas we do usually see normal slowdowns as fall hits around the holidays. This “lower gear” in the market, although perhaps a bit early, can often be the case over several regions across the country at this time. Typically things get back to a faster pace after the first of the year which is just around the corner.