The Starbucks holiday cups are here, and last week it FINALLY started to feel like Fall here in Southern California. Usually, the traditional Fall market for housing, where you start to see both supply and demand steadily drop, starts at the end of September. This year however, because of the delayed start to the Summer market as well as historically low interest rates, the housing market has been firing on all cylinders all the way through October and is now just starting to see some indications of slowing down. The Winter market for real estate in So Cal usually starts around Thanksgiving as buyers and sellers shift their focus away from housing. So this year, the Fall market will most likely only last a few weeks before we start seeing a more dramatic dip in both supply and demand that will start in about 2-3 weeks.
Buyers: with the new reports on the vaccine’s effectiveness as well as the presidential race mostly behind us, some of the uncertainly has been taken out of the market which leads to more confidence, which ultimately will lead to higher interest rates. However, the country is still hurting economically and cases are spiking again so this should help continue to keep rates down through the remainder of the year. Demand is dropping slightly faster than supply which means the market is trending to be slightly better for you, however in many prices ranges, the impact is hard to see because it just not a dramatic swing. Inventory will traditionally diminish during this time of year so don’t expect a huge batch of home to look at but as we get further into the Winter market, your competition will start to give up and throw in the towel for the holiday season which might mean you only have to deal with a few other offers instead of 5-10 on every home. If you are thinking of giving up the home search, DON’T. We are still seeing appreciation happening month after month so if you wait until next year to look again you’ll be paying more for a home than if you are able to lock in something right now. I know it can be discouraging placing offer after offer, but your future self will thank you if you are able to get into a home in the next two months and lock in the lowest interest rates we have ever seen for a mortgage.
Sellers: As demand finally start its traditionally decline, sellers are still in a very good spot finishing as we finish out the year. Although there might be less buyers as the weeks go on, demand is still over 25% higher than last year and inventory is at historic lows. Yes, there is still a good chance for you to sell your home quickly and for top dollar throughout the holidays this year, however, as I say in almost every market update, if you don’t price your home correctly the first time it hits the market, the chances of you selling quickly and for top dollar go down dramatically. Buyers have been in the market looking for homes longer than usual and in many cases placing offers on many different homes which means many of them have a very good idea of what homes should be going for. If you over price your home, it will sit longer, and every week that goes by from now until the end of the year, demand will traditionally continue to shrink bringing you less opportunities. Having the right marketing materials to give buyers the maximum amount of information about your home without them having to physically tour your home is still going to be extremely important in determining how successful you are in this market as Covid cases are continuing to spike with no real end in site over the coming weeks.
