Last Updated on July 8, 2021 by Maggie Sutton
Generally speaking across the country, the housing market is still a sellers market. This means if you haven’t listed your home yet, now might be the perfect time. If you’re on the fence and asking yourself if you should sell your house, here’s why selling in 2021 may make good sense.
As you read on, remember heroes like firefighters, EMS, law enforcement, military (active, reserves and veterans), healthcare professionals and teachers can save an average of $2,400 when they use Homes for Heroes specialists to sell their house! Simply register to learn more. There’s no obligation, and all your questions can be answered by our nation-wide network of real estate affiliates.
Housing Market Trends – Is it a Sellers Market?
There are several trends happening in the U.S. housing market you should know about. Where you’re located, the type of home you want to sell, and the price point you list your home in can make a difference when considering whether to sell your house this year. But, most of the country is in the same situation overall.
Hot Markets
The Western region of the United States – places like Washington, California, and Arizona – have seen a slight decline in home sales in the late spring and early summer months of 2021. This can be partially attributed to the flood of homebuyers in the market. With such a large number of house hunters in the mix, homebuyers are offering well above asking price and getting into bidding wars. This automatically excludes some lower-budget buyers from winning bids, and they are leaving the market altogether until things cool off.
This is by no means a cooling off of the market as a whole, as experts predict the cooling off is necessary to regain those who left. In the Midwest and South, home sales are still increasing month over month, giving these markets a boost. Homes are still selling rapidly, with an average of 17 days to sell in May 2021.
Affordable Markets – Prices Still Rising
Many more affordable markets across the country have managed sales increases this year. If you’re in a more affordable market, for the time being, home prices are continuing to rise. This is good news for sellers. Interest rates are still historically low, although they have flattened and sit around 3.0%.
The number of homes for sale is still increasing across the country. However, because inventory levels are still fairly low in most markets, home buyers may enter bidding battles to get the home they want. This is also good news for the home seller who may receive a bid higher than the asking price. The median home price in the U.S. in May was $350,300. That’s up an astounding 23.6% from May 2020 ($283,500).
Timing the housing market can be difficult, so let’s get back to the question of should I sell my house. If you want to sell a high priced luxury home in one of the hotter housing markets, you may not get the price you want this year. If you’re in one of the more affordable markets, generally speaking, it’s a sellers market and your chances are high to make a large profit.
Interest Rates
To help stimulate and jump start the economy during the outbreak of the global pandemic, interest rates dropped double-digit times in 2020, with almost each time setting a new record low. The lowest average 30-year fixed interest rates were in January 2021, at 2.65%. While they currently hover around 3-3.5%, these are still extremely low rates. Lower rates adds buyers to the housing market. This is great for sellers, but again saturates the market and can price some buyers out.
Economic Outlook
As a boost to the economy during the pandemic, multiple stimulus checks were sent to those who qualified making under a certain amount of money. For those generally unaffected financially from the pandemic, these funds, along with low interest rates, helped push potential buyers into the market in the form of down payments.
The job market is also currently in a worker shortage, meaning there are more jobs than workers. Because of this, employees can be more picky in where they work, and can also negotiate things like bigger salaries and bonuses. By adding more income to a household’s earnings, this can also boost the amount of income that can be devoted to mortgage payments or saving for down payments. Again, this gets more buyers into the market.
So, should you sell your house? We can tell you this: selling your house while the economy is strong, average home prices are higher and interest rates are favorable is a pretty good outlook for any home seller.
Supply and Demand
The old economic principle of “supply and demand” is as relevant as ever when it comes to the real estate market. Part of the reason the last few years have been good to sellers is because of a severe shortage of homes on the market. The lopsided ratio of buyers to available homes meant bidding wars and homes going for well over asking price. This is still happening across the country in many markets. This may mean that prices fall as competition increases, so getting your home on the market sooner versus later may be a good move.
There’s good news for anyone who owns a home priced below $300,000. There is still a large demand for these types of homes and a shortage in inventory. Anyone looking to sell a home in this price range may actually see a slight boost in the sale price, and that’s thanks in large part to Millennials and Gen Z.
Recent Impact of Millennials
Millennials are creating some disruption in the real estate market. Over the past decade, many millennials chose not to buy a home and continue renting for several different reasons. However, things are changing. It may be due to the strong economy, or maybe they have finally saved enough for a down payment.
Either way, more and more millennials are looking to buy a house in 2021. In fact, 37% of homebuyers in 2021 are Millennials. Experts say these first-time home buyers may be joined by large numbers of older millennials who own a “starter home” and are looking to upgrade. While Gen Z is still a new generation to homebuying, the oldest Gen Z’ers are in their early 20’s and currently make up around 2% of home buyers.
Save Money When You Sell Your House
Heroes who sell a house with the help of our specialists save an average of $2,400 in Hero Rewards savings. If you’re ready to take advantage of this sellers market, register with Homes for Heroes today.
There’s no obligation and you’ll be automatically matched with a real estate specialist in your area. They can help you get top dollar for your home and save money throughout the process so you can put even more money in your pocket.
