We are in month five of the Coronavirus pandemic in the United States. It has affected our way of life from how we work, how we go to school, and how we shop for groceries. The real estate industry is no different. In fact, 87% of home sellers are concerned that their home won’t sell due to the pandemic and resulting recession. We are going to share a few facts on why right now is the best possible time to be selling a home and how we can return to a sense of normalcy in this aspect of life.
Even though the majority of sellers are skeptical right now, in the month of June, 372,000 homes were sold in the U.S. This is because the way people view their home has changed and many have decided that a change is much needed. Home showings have skyrocketed and are the highest they have been since 2020 began & the housing market has begun to recover from the deficit it experienced at the beginning of the pandemic.
What is important to note is that as of July 2nd, total listings are down 20% and pending sales have gone up about 19%. Inventory is at a record low & homes are continuing to be sold at rapid rates.
There’s activity coming back in the market, there just isn’t the available inventory in the market for those that want to buy. We think this graph does a good job of summarizing that. It’s a year-over-year change in listings. You can see as new listings continue to grow total listings are decreasing. Meaning, as soon as they come to the market they’re being purchased.
So what does this mean for home prices moving forward? As we look at what experts are saying right now. You can see in the graph below that one, the home price expectations are, as we’ll see, in a slight decline there. Then as we go into 2021 and 2022, we see appreciation across both of those years.
Buyers are also figuring out what works best for them and what does not. Many are finding that as working from home becomes the way of life that a small home is no longer beneficial. What once worked really well for people is no longer suitable to this new lifestyle. Homebuilders predict open-concept floor plans will be a thing of the past as people now value more walls, doors, and overall privacy. The ability to work somewhere and not be disturbed, get on a Zoom call, or get on some type of video call and not be out in the open is more important to people.
Here in Myrtle Beach, things are continuing to progress as well. In the month of June, the Grand Strand had a total of 1,219 pending sales and 839 closed sales. Homes are flying off the market and many are even being sold after only 2 days of being listed as one of our agents recently experienced. The median sales prices was also at a stable $251,000 as you can see in our Market Stat Graphic below:
Our advice: Don’t let this information today go unheard. Take this information out and deliver it to the market. Don’t wait to put your home on the market because this seller’s market is incredible! Take advantage of the willingness to purchase a new home now and make the move you want to make.