Buyer competition intensified in February with an average of four offers per home sold last month. The National Association of Realtors says there were two to three offers for every home sold in February 2020. It’s a direct result of high demand and low supply. For housing inventory to meet demand, which would mean a six month supply, an additional 2.7 million homes need to be on the market. Homes sold in a median of 20 days across the country last month, a new low since 2012. Some areas experienced longer times on the market, such as North Dakota and Montana, while Idaho and South Dakota saw homes snatched up the fastest.
Properties selling fast in the South and West regions
Drilling down the number of days properties typically stayed on the market by price range across regions shows even more dramatic trends. In the West region, homes priced at $250,000 to $750,0000 were typically under contract in 8 days. In the South, properties in the $250,000 to $750,000 price range were typically under contract in about two weeks. With the demand outpacing supply, the median existing-home sales prices have been rising over 10% year-over-year across all U.S. regions since August 2020.
2.7 Million More Homes for Sale Needed to Be on the Market
Every buyer, every REALTOR® helping a buyer, and anyone following the housing market knows that there are simply not enough homes that are being sold on the market nor being constructed to meet the demand for owned or rented housing. As of January, the combined inventory of existing-homes and new homes for sale was just at 1.7 months.
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