Key Highlights
- Simple answer – buyers want space and affordability
- Real estate’s new pandemic normal creating huge opportunities in cities and counties that previously overlooked
- COVID pandemic has accelerated trends already in place
According to Peter Lane Taylor writing for Forbes, “The repercussions of America’s great COVID migration have the potential to re-shuffle the essential demographic and economic balance of America for the next generation. Realtors, investors and politicians should be paying attention. By every metric, Americans are moving faster now than they were before the pandemic.”
Realtor.com and Zillow indicate that page-per-property views on their platforms are up +50% y/y nearly everywhere in the country. These platforms also indicate that inventory in the 100 top metro markets in the country has been shrinking since March (when the pandemic outbreak began in the US) along with DOM and the gap between list-to-sale price.
George Ratiu, senior economist with realtor.com, told Lane Taylor, “Based on realtor.com surveys of consumers, we learned that home shoppers are looking for more space, quieter neighborhoods, home offices, newer kitchens and access to the outdoors, traits which have revived a strong interest in the suburbs and smaller metro areas.”
Real estate is now trending hot in every region of the country. According to realtor.com’s latest data, five of the hottest markets are in New England along with New York State. Those five “hottest” markets include Melrose MA, Portland, ME, Hudson NH, Worcester MA and Rochester NY.
Zillow’s hottest markets as of October 2020 include Columbus, Cincinnati and Dayton (all in Ohio). Joining this Ohio trio of cities are Boise ID, Salt Lake City UT, and Stamford CT. Know that Austin TX ranked #1 on Zillow’s list.
Cheryl Young, senior economist with Zillow, told Lane Taylor, “Even the coolest markets in America right now are generally performing well and tilted in favor of sellers. There’s a lot of demand right now…and homes are typically selling quickly for prices above what we were seeing last year. It’s also worth noting that the bottom performers for the most part aren’t decreasing. They’re just increasing at a lower-than-average rate. The residential market is on fire right now…”
What are the factors driving the current housing market? Ratiu with realtor.com said…
- America’s demographics are skewing younger as Millennials are embracing homeownership
- The tech promise of remote working made in the mid-1990’s has come true and workers have quickly adapted to working remotely due to the pandemic.
- Buyers are seeking affordability after a decade-long span of home price appreciation.
As no California or Pacific Northwest city (along with New York City, Long Island, northern New Jersey, Honolulu, Chicago and Philadelphia) has ranked near the top of any platform’s “Best Of” lists lately, perhaps high-priced housing markets as well as high-tax, high lockdown urban cities and states are and will be taking a back seat to leafy neighborhoods, strong school districts and sustainable economic and real estate markets in the 2020’s
Thanks to Peter Lane Taylor writing for Forbes..
Also read: Most & Least Recovering Housing Markets, Serious Delinquencies Spike to Highest Rate in More Than 5 Years, What Does “Luxury” Mean in COVID Real Estate Market?
