The success of the U.S. residential real estate market, like any
other market, is determined by supply and demand. This means we need to
look at how many potential purchasers are in the market versus the
number of houses that are available to buy. With early 2020 housing data
now rolling in, it’s quite evident there are two big stories impacting
this year’s residential real estate market:
1. Buyer demand is already extremely strong
2. Housing supply is at a historically low level Demand
ShowingTime is a firm that compiles data from property showings scheduled across the country. The latest ShowingTime Showing Index reveals how showings have increased in each of the country’s four regions for five months in a row.
Supply
Move.com also just released information indicating that the number of homes currently for sale has declined
rapidly and now sits at the lowest level in almost a decade. They
explained, “National housing
inventory declined 13.6 percent in January, the steepest year-over-year
decrease in more than 4 years, pushing the supply of for sale homes in
the U.S. to its lowest level since realtor.com began tracking the data
in 2012.”
In response to these numbers, Danielle Hale, Chief Economist at realtor.com, said,
"Homebuyers took
advantage of low mortgage rates and stable listing prices to drive sales
higher at the end of 2019, further depleting the already limited
inventory of homes for sale. With fewer homes coming up for sale, we've
hit another new low of for sale-listings in January."
The decrease in inventory impacted every price range, too. Here’s a graph showing the data released by move.com:
Bottom Line
Since there’s a historic shortage of homes for sale, putting your
home on the market today could drive an excellent price and give you
additional negotiating leverage when selling your house.
Let’s get
together to determine if listing your house now is your best move.