When Opportunity Strikes…

This could be the best time to sell your home

By Colleen Crowley

Political strife, natural disasters, a global pandemic: 2020 is one year you’ll probably never want to relive. The last 18 months have certainly been difficult, and some people would even call them a total bust, fraught with uncertainty, illness, and financial challenges. Perhaps the only people who came out of it all better off than before are those who took this time to sell their homes.

Moving houses during a pandemic may seem inadvisable, but with real estate appreciation at an all-time high, the financial reward for sellers in the last year was substantial. According to Case Shiller Indices, as of May 2021, the national appreciation rate is 2.14% month over month since May 2020, and 16.61% year over year. That’s a substantial increase from the 9% year-over-year appreciation seen in 2019.

Additionally, roughly half of all U.S. houses are selling above their asking prices, according to the Associated Press. Before the pandemic, only about 25% sold above asking.

Not only are buyers overpaying, but they’re also moving on properties extremely quickly. A recent press release from the National Association of Realtors said that “properties typically remained on the market for 17 days in June [2021]…down from 24 days in June 2020.” In fact, “89% of homes sold in June 2021 were on the market for less than a month.” erbated when the pandemic impacted the labor pool and slowed down production and delivery of building supplies. Additionally, there has been a decreased supply of preexisting homes in the last year, since many homeowners are reluctant to show their homes to potential buyers during the pandemic, for fear of COVID-19 spread.

Then in March 2020, when the Federal Reserve reacted to the pandemic by dropping the short-term Federal Fund interest rate, mortgage rates hit a historic low. Today, a 30-year fixedrate mortgage is averaging at a 3.256% rate, allowing potential buyers to consider a home they could never have afforded just a few years ago.

So why is the market so hot right now? To put it simply, it’s a perfect blend of short supply, high demand, and low mortgage rates.

Prior to 2020, there was already a shortage of new-home construction. This was only exac-

And finally, when lockdown kicked in, we were forced to become a bit too familiar with our own homes. As bedrooms and kitchen tables became makeshift classrooms and offices, homeowners longed for physical boundaries to separate their home and work-from-home lives. And with gyms closed and after school sports suspended, grown-ups and kids alike needed space to let go of some of that stir-crazy energy. In response, the market saw an exodus from urban centers, and the demand for suburban houses with backyards, home offices, and access to the outdoors skyrocketed.