2020 Year-End Housing Data BY COLLEEN KING OLIVER
A
t the pandemic’s peak, the housing market slowed to a temporary crawl, but every month since then it’s been making up for lost time. The year-end data from 2020 upholds the anecdotal evidence of a very competitive, ever-changing market. Comparing all of 2020 to 2019, pending sales, closed sales, and the median sales price were all up at least 5 percent. Of those categories, median sales price saw the most growth with prices up 14 percent in 2020 to $350,000 for all properties. Other metrics, such as days on the market, number of homes for sale, and new listings were all down compared to 2019. New listings for 2020 were down 8.6 percent, compared to 2019, but closed
sales were up 5.5 percent for the whole year. Those numbers indicate a strong buyer demand throughout the state. Freddie Mac, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, forecasts low mortgage interest rates are here to stay through the end of 2021 which will keep median sales prices and demand for homes on the uptick in the first quarter. According to Freddie Mac, as of Jan. 21, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is 2.77 percent. “2020 was a market unlike anything we’ve seen before,” said 2021 President Jeffrey Jones. “We saw our membership go from periods of extreme scarcity to booming business within a matter
Year-End Market Overview Pending Sales
Days On Market
2019
(118,727)
2019
(64)
2020
(130,868)
2020
(56)
+10.25%
–12.5%
Closed Sales
New Listings
2019
(117,412)
2019
(179,305)
2020
(123,925)
2020
(163,896)
+5.5%
–8.6%
Median Sales Price
Mortgage Rate
2019
($307,000)
2020
($350,000)
+14% Designated REALTOR® | February 2021 | 4
%
As of Jan. 21, 2021
2.77%
