Here’s what consumers, experts, and cold, hard data have to say about our market.
If you’ve been wondering whether it’s in your best interest to sell now or wait until the 2021 spring “selling season,” let’s take a look at the data today. The consumer home price index report just came out, and it bears plenty of good news. There are six questions that consumers get asked for this report:
Is it a good time to sell? 60% of surveyed consumers said that now was a good time to sell, which is an 11% increase from last month’s response. We saw this sentiment play out in the market in the first two weeks with a year-over-year increase of new listings hitting.
Will prices go up? The majority of people think they will. The National Association of Realtors, Mortgage Bankers Association, Moody’s Investors Services, and plenty of analysts believe prices will continue to go up.
Are consumers concerned about job loss? Thankfully, 83% of consumers said they weren’t worried about losing their jobs and/or income.
Is it a good time to buy? 54% of consumers think so, and they cited incredibly low interest rates as the biggest reason why.
What do consumers believe will happen with mortgage rates? The majority of people think that rates will stay the same, and I’d agree with that assessment.
Do consumers believe their income will go up or down? Most folks believe their income will remain the same.
Okay, here are the fun numbers: Year over year (from September to October), we had 61% more showing activity nationwide. Locally, we had 52% more showing activity. Of course, when you show more homes, more homes get sold, and that’s keeping our market hot. Activity usually slows down in the fall, but the 2020 market isn’t taking its foot off the gas.
Nationally, there are 400,000 fewer homes on the market this year than last. Right now in Oregon, we’re sitting at 1.1 months of inventory compared to 2.8 months last year—the lowest level in our market’s history.
Remember: It all boils down to supply and demand; there’s a massive amount of demand both nationally and locally, while the whole nation seems to be begging for more supply. This means that there couldn’t be a huge market slowdown around the corner unless something absolutely crazy happens (though, at this point in 2020, would that even surprise us?). Now, we do know that real estate is hyperlocal; there are a few areas in the Portland metro that have slowed down just a tad, such as the Pearl District and Happy Valley. Overall, though, every indicator tells us that 2021 is going to be a boom market, and you can throw any notions of “seasonal adjustment” out the window.
If you’re serious about selling, don’t even think about waiting till spring! Give me a call, text, or email and I’d be more than happy to help you get in the best position possible to capitalize on this unusually active fourth-quarter market.
