UNPRESIDENTED SELLERS MARKET
STRONG SELLERS MARKET
There has never been a more advantageous time in memory to sell your home. Properly priced homes in good condition are typically earning multiple offers and selling for over list price.Several factors went into opening this window of opportunity for sellers, where we have very little competition and extremely strong demand.
Understanding what created the strongest sellers market in memory can help us turn it to your advantage as it evolves.
ULTRA LOW INVENTORY
COVID DECIMATED SUPPLY INITIALLY
In addition to everything else the pandemic has done to our lives, it altered the supply of new listings in 2020 so dramatically that we’ll likely feel the effects for years to come.
COVID hit Oregon in March, right at the beginning of what is normally the strongest period of new listings coming on the market. Through June, we lost over 3,200 potential listings that would have gone live in a typical year. This dip was the spark that triggered our current market conditions.
Once July hit, we started making enough new listing gains that month over month, we were back to tracking close to previous years.
Inventory is not recovering from the loss March-June.
Even with new listings coming on the market at closer to the normal rate from July onward, we did not make up ground on the listing deficit. Demand, however did recover, further exacerbating the low inventory level.
DEMAND IS UP
The pandemic didn’t affect everyone equally. Many fortunate people were able to adapt their employment to work from home and maintain their relative income. With lockdown narrowing how people were able to spend their money, some were actually able to make economic gains.
Demand recovered and exceeded the previous year
Pending sales were expectedly down between February and May. Then from May through the end of the year, sales shot up significantly beyond the average. Much of this can be explained by extremely low interest rates providing buyers with strong purchasing power.
ACCELERATING APPRECIATION
This combination of drastically low inventory levels and fierce buyer demand have fueled an environment where multiple offers are the new normal. More and more buyers come in with all cash offers and are even waiving the appraisal contingency.
Your home may be worth significantly more than you think
2020’s average sale price increased from $459,200 to $494,000, which is a 7.6% gain. However, even this gain isn’t fully reflective of the current market, as there was very little appreciation from January to June. The dramatic surge over the second half of the year is what propelled us to our present conditions.
Closed sales July through December significantly higher than the past 5 years
CONCLUSION
There has never been a more advantageous time in memory to sell your home.
CONTACT US
If you’re considering selling or would like more focused market analysis for your area, we’re here for you. Contact us to see how the Spark marketing program, and over 40 years of combined real estate experience, can help you get the most out of these market conditions.