It can't last forever but it has lasted another month. February 2021 exceeded all expectations: the market has continued to be extremely hot due to low interest rates, lack of homes to meet buyer demand and strong desire on the part of buyers to get into or move up in the market. This buyer desire TO move during Covid seems to be colliding with a seller desire NOT TO move until after Covid. We have many sellers who had wanted to sell and downsize pre-Covid, but are now wanting to stay in their homes until the Covid craziness is over. Despite vaccine rollouts, it seems Covid will still be with us for the foreseeable future....and for now, so is the VERY seller-friendly real estate market. The prices we have been getting for our sellers have been almost ridiculous. This strong sellers' market can't last forever but it is here for now.
February 2021 looked like this:
-sales of all types of homes were up a whopping 73.3% over February 2020
-sales of detached homes were up 79.7% over February 2020 (yes...almost 80% more sales than last year...and last February was pretty good)
-sales were up 56% over January 2021 (that's crazy! January was already record setting)
-sales were up 42.8% over the 10 year average for February (again this is crazy and amazingly good for sellers)
-the benchmark price for detached homes was up 13.7% over February 2020; for all types of homes it was up 6.8%
Obviously, most sellers are doing very well when they sell...but sadly some are STILL not realizing the prices that might have been attained. There is a lot more to it than putting a sign in the ground and putting the listing on MLS! Multiple offers are great but once offers are received, just taking the highest offer does not mean the seller has obtained the highest possible price! While some people do not like to negotiate the price or terms in multiple offer situations, I think this can cost sellers a lot of money. It usually takes many hours of negotiation to get the price up as high as humanly possible. Strong negotiation is critical to getting the highest price!
Timing is EVERYTHING in real estate....and the best time to sell is when supply is low and demand is high...add to that unbelievably low interest rates and sellers are winning the real estate lottery.
If you have been thinking of selling your home or if you would like to discuss the current market (or anticipated future market) and how it may affect you, please let me know.