What’s Happening in Our Market?

Three things to look for in the most confusing real estate market.

Today I'm here to talk to you about the real estate market. I've been helping buyers and sellers for the last 20 years, and this is by far the most confusing market I've ever seen. You have so many factors playing into the real estate market, such as inflation, mortgage rates, ongoing war and monkeypox. There's just so much going on. It's really one of the most confusing real estate markets out there. Three things that I'm keeping a very close eye on: 1. Days on market. How long is a house on the market before it sells? We are coming out of 2021, which will go down in history as having the shortest days on market. Homes were just flying off the shelves. It is still a very low day on market, but compared to where we were at, it seems like it's a snail's pace. Let's say we were at 14 days on the market because I think we were right around there. Let's say we creep up to 21 days for that buyer and seller. That's a big difference. It feels very different for buyers. It feels very different for sellers, and yet, 21 days on the market is not a long time. 

"Find an agent that knows what’s happening in the market."

2. Number of sales. Probably in 2022, we're going to be looking at about 5.1 million homes that have been sold. Contrast that to 2021: There were 6.1 million sales, which is the most we've ever seen in the history of real estate. That's a drop of 15% to 20% in sales, which feels very different, again, for buyers and for sellers, and for real estate agents. It's not bad. When you look at 5.1 across all the years, that's a normal year and that's what it is. It's a normalizing market. 3. Mortgage interest rates and inflation. If you're watching this video, you know about what's going on with inflation, and you probably know about how volatile mortgage rates are. They have been up and down, up and down. They started the year at 2.9%, we're sitting today, at the time of this recording, at 5.1%, and we've been up to 6%. That volatility is giving buyers some pause. Here's my tip: If you're in the process of buying, selling, or investing in real estate, find an agent that knows this information. They better know the data. They better know what's going on in your local market. If you don't know an agent like that, I'd be happy to help you. I'd be happy to sit down with you and talk to you. What's going on in your individual market, in your price point, and how is this going to play out? Give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you.