A Delayed Spring Market Means a Busy Month for Home Showings & Sales

If you know someone in real estate or have talked to anyone who's buying or selling their home right now, they'll tell you it's really busy. You could even say it’s chaotic out there. This is being driven by super low interest rates that are hovering around 3% and high buyer demand, which means we’re currently in a seller's market.

A buyer’s versus a seller’s market is based on the number of months the supply of housing inventory will last. Any time the month's supply is less than five months, meaning if no other houses are allowed to hit the market it would take that many months to deplete the inventory to zero, it's considered a seller’s market. Once inventory is around five or six months, it's considered more of a neutral market. Inventory over six months is considered a buyer's market.

Key metrics are pointing to a strong start to the July housing market. We're up 47% on closed houses and up 48% for homes under contract compared to this time last year. These increases are significant and are a result of the delayed spring market due to the pandemic. New listings are up 9% compared to 2019, so we're also seeing more houses hit the market. The median sold price is up 5%, which is interesting because people are under the impression that prices will be lower because of COVID-19, but the data shows us otherwise. And home showing activity is outpacing last year by 20.5%, which reflects how active the market is right now.

Are you thinking about buying or selling a home and have questions about your local market? Reach out to me at jnewsom@bhhschicago.com or (773) 580-5840 to schedule a consultation.