Market Trends Improve Over Last Year But Are Still A Challenge

The market today is a weird mash-up of years past and a whole new series of events that are a huge unknown in the business. Mortgage rates are low but so is inventory of both new builds and existing homes. These factors often mean a hot real estate market with increasing home prices and tight bidding wars among buyers. While this is exactly the situation that we are facing now things are bound to change as the year progresses. More and more people are deciding this is the right time to sell but also have to realize that they need to find a place themselves to live in. Increased inventory will tend to slow down the huge spike in prices but may not hold it off too much. 

 

New buyers are being priced out of the market more often than not as sales to first time buyers is lower than this time last year. According to the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) latest report only 31% of home purchases were by first time buyers while close to 20% were from investors and second home purchasers. Another factor at play is the amount of cash buyers making deals giving them a significant edge when faced with a bidding war type of situation. Many people are discovering that they can do their jobs from home and they do not need to live in a high priced neighborhood so they are selling their current homes and ending up with a surplus of cash that they can then work with when buying their new home in a lower priced market. 

 

Homes are also spending less time in the market than before. The average time that a home is staying in the market is 17 days while 89% staying in the market for less than a month according to the NAR’s latest report that tracked activity in June. While inventory has increased over the last few months it is still lower than the previous year. With that being said the amount of homes that are being listed will improve over the next few months and the prices may continue to rise but perhaps not as quickly as it has in the past. As people lift out of the pandemic and with hope their bank accounts recover then hopefully the market will bend to the needs of the public. Also, as lumber prices start to regulate more builders will start to increase their activity to try and add to the inventory.   

 

Entering the market whether you are selling, buying or both it is best to have a qualified real estate agent that can help guide you through the process. Agents are trained to navigate everything that can happen when you are dealing with an ever changing market. If you are looking to relocate to the Hot Springs Village then look no further than Century 21 Hot Springs Village Real Estate. We specialize in buying, selling and renting in Hot Springs Village and strive every day to deliver the best in customer service!