Written by Jason Kritzberg on April 7, 2021
It’s a sellers market.
By now, we know the story, home prices are appreciating rapidly, inventory is scarce, and if you are selling your home you can basically command almost anything from your buyers. But do you know just how high our market has gotten too since the new year?
We have seen numbers that we haven’t seen in over 15 years. Nationwide, home prices grew at a record year-over-year rate of 11.6% in February, according to Black Knight. In addition, daily home sales data by the company’s Collateral Analytics group showed an annual 15.9% jump in the median single-family sales price. You can thank the record low interest rates for this jump, and with the rates staying low, it might be a good time to consider selling your home too!
Unfortunate for buyers, as housing is now the least affordable its been since 2019, factoring in interest rates, home prices, income, and closing costs, but a very fortunate circumstance for sellers! Black Night’s Data & Analytics President, stated that “it now takes 20% of the median household income to make the monthly payment on an average-priced home – back to the five-year average after several years of low-interest rates mitigating the impact of rising prices on affordability.” He also stated that “any hopes of 2021 bringing an influx of homes to the market and lessening pressure on prices appear to be dashed for now, as new for-sale listings were down 16% and 21% year-over-year in January and February, respectively.”
Currently, there are 125,000 fewer listings then in comparison to the first two months of 2020, driving for-sale inventory 40% below last years level. With lower interest rates and a continuing shortage of inventory, it will be important to keep a careful eye on both home prices and affordability metrics in the coming months.
If you are thinking about selling your home, there is no better time than now. Sellers are in a good position to potentially make more on their current home investment ,which may increase the down payment for their next home. To learn more about the latest market trends and to get started with your home selling process, contact your local realtor, Stephen White, today! For any mortgage questions, contact Victoria Lynch at 818.456.7307.
