Housing Stats

The Kentucky Seller’s Market Rolls On

BY PAUL DEL RIO

KYR Director of Communications

The confounding housing market we are living through may likely be referred to by a unique moniker in a few years: “The great inventory shortage of ’20 & ‘21”? “The post-pandemic price boom”? “The Covid Crescendo”? Your guess is as good as ours. One thing remains fairly certain, however, once the market moderates and corrects, we aren’t likely to see these kinds of sales volume figures for years to come.

2021 year-to-date (through April) sales volume is up 28% over 2020 and 39% over 2019. Obviously, this means different things for different people. More volume = more commissions (good). More closings = less inventory (bad). There are many ways to spin this market. The bottom line is it won’t be sustainable. Something must give. Sales will slip and prices will eventually moderate.

Kentucky home sales through April of this year reached 16,417 units sold. Looking at the sales numbers for 2020 and 2019; the figure of closings YTD though April accounted for about 25% of the sales count for the entire year. Applying that logic would put the current year’s sales pace at over 65,000 homes sold. The record in Kentucky was set last year at just over 56,000. If the market predictions hold true, we may very well set another high-water mark in 2021.

Whether due to an increase in new construction or sellers beginning to feel like they may have options if they decide to list, REALTORS® are anticipating the return of inventory to the market. “According to the most recent Kentucky REALTORS® Opinion Survey, 40% of respondents anticipate an increase in inventory and 39% anticipate an increase in the pace of new listing activity over the next twelve months”, said KYR President Charles Hinckley. “Confidence is growing that the tide will turn, and more homes will be added to the market.”

Kentucky REALTORS® would like to offer a special thanks to those conscientious realtors that participate in the KYR Realtor Opinion survey issued each month. When you do this, you allow KYR to be the voice of real estate in Kentucky. This means not only reporting current market conditions and housing statistics from previous months, but also looking ahead to what consumers can expect from the market in the coming months. Look for emails each month (and social media posts in the private Facebook group) The HousingIQ/Kentucky REALTORS® Confidence Index is a encouraging participation in the survey. Here is a look at the survey report for April 2021. composite measure that captures Kentucky REALTOR® expectations about the housing market over the next twelve HousingIQ / Kentucky REALTORS® CONFIDENCE INDEX 52.2 months. It is derived from three sub-indices – Price Expectation Index, Buyer Power Index, and Homeowner Stress Index. A value of 50 corresponds to respondents anticipating no change in market conditions over the next twelve months. A value of 100 corresponds to all respondents agreeing that market conditions will improve. The HousingIQ/Kentucky REALTORS® Confidence Index is a composite measure that captures Kentucky REALTOR® expectations about the housing market over the next twelve months. It is derived from three sub-indices – Price Expectation Index, Buyer Power Index, and Homeowner Stress Index. A value of 50 corresponds to respondents anticipating no change in market conditions over the next twelve months. A value of 100 corresponds to all respondents agreeing that market conditions will improve.

April 2021

-3.8 48% of respondents expect higher sales volume in the next twelve months. +1

The Price Expectation Index reflects respondents’ perception of future home price trends. A value of 50 corresponds to respondents anticipating current trends to sustain over the next twelve months and a value of 100 corresponds to all respondents anticipating an improvement in price appreciation.

The Homeowner Stress index measures the unfavorable financial situation of homeowners. It is derived from questions that measure the anticipated change in distressed sales, delinquencies, etc. A value of 50 corresponds to respondents anticipating no change from the current situation and a value of 0 corresponds to all respondents agreeing that homeowner situation will improve within the next twelve months.

The Buyer Power Index gauges the balance of bargaining power between buyers and sellers. A value of 50 corresponds to the current trend sustaining whereas a value of 100 corresponds to all respondents agreeing that the power would shift to the buyer within the next twelve months.

All change values are month-over-month.

Explore the New RPR

By Emily Line, RPR Vice President of Member Experience

REALTORS Property Resource® now has a refreshed user experience. Redesigned from top to bottom, the platform boasts a more modern look, feel, and functionality. The site—which offers comprehensive data, powerful analytics, and client-friendly reports, exclusively for NAR members—made many of its latest updates with commercial members in mind.

You Asked, RPR Listened

In one-on-one testing and group meetings, RPR users said they wanted a dashboard style of navigation and an easier, more streamlined way to find their saved items and past searches. The new RPR homepage delivers on these asks, with an approach built around the user’s regular routine. From the homepage, RPR users can take shortcuts to tools and features, as well as customizable “My Markets” with quick access to property hot sheets. Simply put, users can now get more done with fewer clicks.

In addition, you can now access any property from one search bar. Simply toggle from “Residential” to “Commercial,” and the search settings change accordingly. You can access more than 900,000 active commercial listings from partners such as Biproxi/OfficeSpace.com, Brevitas, CREXi, Catylist, and TotalCommercial.com. Plus, with RPR you can access public record information on off-market commercial properties—56 million properties in all.

The new RPR offers commercial users: • Shortcuts: Take guided tours of business-building features such as prospecting, mapping insights, reporting, investor analysis, opportunity zones, and comp lists. • Smoother navigation: Locate the tools you need from anywhere in the site using the main navigation. For example, need quick access to Commercial Site Selection? It's in a dropdown menu, under the Research tab. • Market activity mapping: Monitor selected geographies and properties daily to keep an eye out for client opportunities. Once you set up My Markets, they’ll be displayed when you log in to your RPR account. • Streamlined saves: Saved searches, properties, and listings are now easy to find and retrieve. • Helpful details: Access partner resources, including national listing platforms, from property details pages.

Real-World Application

The site provides video tutorials and on-demand webinars to help you become an expert user. Gail Clements of Southport, N.C., was already a regular RPR user when she started doing research on Opportunity Zones. She stumbled onto RPR’s “Opportunity Zones Tips and Tricks” webinar and was able to quickly apply what she learned. She located properties using RPR maps, connected with owners via the RPR mailing labels feature, and presented the properties to investors using RPR reports. “I received an immediate response,” says Clements, who works in residential, commercial, and land sales. Her story is a textbook example of how to use RPR to impress your commercial and investor clients.

Get started today at narrpr.com.

No Added Cost

Access to RPR is a benefit of your membership in the National Association of REALTORS®. Beyond your member dues, there’s no cost to use the site or access any of the tools. And now, through March 1, 2022, members of the CCIM Institute, Counselors of Real Estate, Institute of Real Estate Management, Society of Industrial and Office REALTORS®, and REALTORS® Land Institute who belong to NAR as Institute Affiliate members have access at narrpr.com.

KYR Meetings Update

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused many organizations to revisit, re-plan, and modify the way that they come together to get business done. Kentucky REALTORS® is no different. KYR staff and leadership are monitoring pandemic guidance to determine whether scheduled meetings should be modified or cancelled. Here is an update on the meeting schedule for 2021.

As of printing, the guidance is loosening, and the mask mandates and capacity restrictions are scheduled to be lifted in mid-June. This should allow all future in person meetings to continue as scheduled. Of course, if things change, we will make necessary modifications.

The current meeting schedule is as follows:

KYR Summer Retreat

French Lick Resort (French Lick, IN) June 28-30, 2021

KYR Annual Convention

Northern Kentucky Convention Center/Cincinnati Marriott at RiverCenter (Covington, KY) September 27-30, 2021

2022 Leadership Meeting

Marriott Griffin Gate Resort (Lexington, KY) December 5-9, 2021

It is our mission to serve our membership the best we can, and that means keeping connected and focusing the membership on our shared goals.

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