Will Sellers Still Have the Upper Hand This Year?

Listing inventory remains low and prices continue to rise, giving sellers advantage over buyers. With few choices, sellers have been seeing their homes fly off the market in mere weeks—or days in some markets—at their desired price points, or even higher. According to HousingWire, there remains little chance for a full-on buyer’s housing market this year. The rising home prices of 2020 are predicted to continue on and although more construction will occur, it is forecasted to make little difference. Buyers will experience a slightly easier market this year, though, as housing prices rise, but on a smaller scale.

Freddie Mac projects prices to rise only 2.6% — much better than 2020’s 5.5% clip.

Low mortgage rates will also help offset those rising prices. Though rates probably won’t hit the bargain-basement numbers seen this year, most economists project they’ll stay in the high-2% to low-3% range. Fannie Mae actually predicts a 2.8% rate across the entire year.

The biggest problem will be the low levels of inventory met by ever-increasing demand. Though work-from-home opportunities have certainly contributed to this (and will continue to do so), there’s also rising demand from younger buyers to consider.

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