{"id":6877,"date":"2021-04-28T06:00:31","date_gmt":"2021-04-28T10:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.sfloridaluxuryhomes.com\/?p=6877"},"modified":"2021-04-28T06:00:31","modified_gmt":"2021-04-28T10:00:31","slug":"patience-is-the-key-to-buying-a-home-this-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.sfloridaluxuryhomes.com\/?p=6877","title":{"rendered":"Patience Is the Key to Buying a Home This Year"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Patience<\/p>\n

The question many homebuyers are facing this year is, \u201cWhy is it so hard to find a house?\u201d<\/em> We\u2019re in the ultimate sellers\u2019 market<\/a>, which means real estate is ultra-competitive for buyers right now. The National Association of Realtors<\/em> (NAR) notes homes are getting an average of 4.8 offers<\/a> per sale, and that number keeps rising. Why? It\u2019s because there are so few houses for sale.<\/span><\/p>\n

Low inventory in the housing market isn\u2019t new, but it\u2019s becoming more challenging to navigate. Danielle Hale, Chief Economist at realtor.com<\/em>, explains<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe housing market is still relatively under supplied<\/em><\/strong>, and buyers can\u2019t buy what\u2019s not for sale. Relative to what we saw in 2017 to 2019, March 2021 was still roughly 117,000 new listings lower, adding to the pre-existing early-year gap of more than 200,000 fresh listings that would typically have come to market in January or February<\/strong>. Despite this week\u2019s gain from a year ago, we\u2019re 19 percent below the new seller activity that we saw in the same week in 2019.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

While many homeowners paused their plans to sell during the height of the pandemic, this isn\u2019t the main cause of today\u2019s huge gap between supply and demand. Sam Khater, Vice President and Chief Economist <\/em>at Freddie Mac, Economic Housing and Research Division,<\/em> shares<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe main driver of the housing shortfall has been the long-term decline in the construction of single-family homes<\/em><\/strong> . . . That decline has resulted in the decrease in supply of entry-level single-family homes or, \u2019starter homes<\/em>.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

When you consider the number of homes built in the U.S. by decade<\/a>, the serious lack of new construction is clear (See graph below<\/em>):\"Patience<\/a>The number of newly built homes is disproportionately lower than the rate of household formation, which, according to the U.S. Census Bureau<\/em><\/a>, has continued to increase. Khater also explains<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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\u201cEven before the COVID-19 pandemic and current recession, the housing market was facing a substantial supply shortage<\/strong> and that deficit has grown. In 2018, we estimated that there was a housing supply shortage of approximately 2.5 million units, meaning that the U.S. economy was about 2.5 million units below what was needed to match long-term demand. Using the same methodology, we estimate that the housing shortage increased to 3.8 million units by the end of 2020<\/strong>. A continued increase in a housing shortage is extremely unusual; typically in a recession, housing demand declines and supply rises, causing inventory to rise above the long-term trend.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

To catch up to current demand, Freddie Mac<\/em><\/a> estimates we need to build almost four million homes. The good news is builders are working hard to get us there. The U.S. Census Bureau <\/em>also states<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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\u201cPrivately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in March were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,766,000. This is 2.7 <\/em>percent <\/em>(\u00b11.7 percent) <\/em>above the revised February rate of 1,720,000<\/em> . . . Privately-owned housing starts in March were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,739,000. This is 19.<\/em>4 percent <\/em>(\u00b113.7 percent) above the revised February estimate of 1,457,000<\/em>. . . .\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

What does this mean? Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist<\/em> at NAR, clarifies<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe March figure of 1.74 million housing starts is the highest in 14 years<\/em><\/strong>. Both single-family units and multifamily units ramped up. After 13 straight years of underproduction \u2013 the chief cause for today\u2019s inventory shortage \u2013 this construction boom needs to last for at least three years to make up for the part shortfall<\/strong>. As trade-up buyers purchase newly constructed homes, their prior homes will show up in MLSs, and hence, more choices for consumers<\/strong>. Housing starts to housing completion could be 4 to 8 months, so be patient with the improvement to inventory<\/strong>. In the meantime, construction workers deserve cheers.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Bottom Line<\/strong><\/h3>\n

If you\u2019re planning to buy this year, the key to success will be patience, given today\u2019s low inventory environment. Let\u2019s connect today to talk more about what\u2019s happening in our area.<\/p>\n

Content previously posted on Keeping Current Matters<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"PatienceThe question many homebuyers are facing this year is, \u201cWhy is it so hard to find a house?\u201d We\u2019re in the ultimate sellers\u2019 market, which means real estate is ultra-competitive for buyers right now. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) notes homes are getting an average of 4.8 offers per sale, and that number keeps [\u2026]<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"bgseo_title":"","bgseo_description":"","bgseo_robots_index":"","bgseo_robots_follow":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,134,88,84,86,89,122],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","category-buying-myths","category-first-time-home-buyers","category-for-buyers","category-housing-market-updates","category-move-up-buyers","category-new-construction"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.sfloridaluxuryhomes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.sfloridaluxuryhomes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.sfloridaluxuryhomes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.sfloridaluxuryhomes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.sfloridaluxuryhomes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6877"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.sfloridaluxuryhomes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6877\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.sfloridaluxuryhomes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.sfloridaluxuryhomes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.sfloridaluxuryhomes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}