What's Up Wednesday- July 29, 2020

Now that the numbers for the first half of the year are all in and analyzed, I wanted to go over what the economists are predicting for the rest of 2020. 

In April and May, the number of home sales nationwide dropped drastically but in June, they increased by 21% from the previous month. That is the biggest month over month increase in the number of sales since the National Association of Realtors started tracking the data back in 1968. Windermere Economics is predicting that the recovery will continue and that the year will end with the total number of sales down just 6.4% from 2019, which is much better than how sales were trending in April and May. The drop in the number of sales has been driven by a lack of inventory and not from a lack of buyer demand.

We know that most homeowners and potential buyers care most about house values. In the midst of the pandemic in the U.S, price growth never turned negative as many feared it would back in mid-March. Windemere Economics, National Association of Realtors, The Mortage Bankers Associate, and Fannie Mae are predicting prices increasing this year by rates of 4.3%, 3.6%, 4.9%, and 5.2% respectively. While those rates of growth are a bit lower than last year, they still represent solid year over year appreciation. 

These numbers are from the national level, so if you want to dig into the data for your area, please reach out and we'd be happy to give you a report for your specific neighborhood.

Music: « Hey! » from Bensound.com