If you are interested in home selling, it’s important to understand the important metrics used by the real estate industry. Shortage of available home inventory is a key reason why home prices rise. Many potential home buyers have been waiting for prices to cool off before entering the housing market. Here’s a look at how the number of homes on sale affects the market.
Tracking Active Listings
Active listings are the number of homes currently available for sale on the market. These listings appear on real estate websites that focus on home selling. Knowing how many active listings there are in a market gives you an indication of whether the market is hot or cold. The less supply of homes there is in the market, the more likely prices will increase if there’s home-buying demand.
Normal Housing Market Cycles
The housing market typically has its most activity in the summer months, and then numbers begin to drop off from September through the rest of the year. Prices are usually lowest in the winter when the housing market slows down. The years leading into the pandemic continued this normal trend, then the market became somewhat choppy once lockdowns began. In 2020 active listings reached their peak in April, then dropped off significantly the rest of the year. The rebound in 2021 coincided with record-low housing inventory counts.
Why Inventory Listings Have Increased
During 2021 more Americans became comfortable putting their homes up for sale as vaccinations increased and the pandemic subsided. With new construction starting up again, home buyers had wider options to consider, inspiring them to sell their old homes and buy new ones.
But the pandemic also created economic uncertainties, as many homeowners faced foreclosure like in 2008. At the same time, many families built enough equity to focus on moving. The pandemic also caused people to rethink their careers and where they live.
What Have Been Recent Housing Trends?
The housing market surged throughout 2021 but then cooled off in 2022. The pandemic and business shutdowns that began in 2020 had a dramatic effect on the housing market in multiple ways. Some people sold their homes because they were no longer able to afford the monthly mortgage payment, while others sold to capitalize on rising home prices.
Large investment banks began to contribute to home sales, bidding up prices above asking prices. But the market got so hot it was bound to cool off, especially once the Federal Reserve began to regularly raise interest rates in 2022.
Why Choose Brighton Escrow, Inc.?
The best way to approach real estate is to work with experienced professionals. If you would like to know more about techniques involved with home selling, contact our experts at Brighton Escrow, Inc. today!
