Why Now Is a Good Time to Sell Your Home

The housing market made a fantastic return in 2020 and is now on track to have an even better year in 2021. Average mortgage interest rates are hovering at record all-time lows, which is a driving force in this sustained momentum.

According to the National Association of Realtors' (NAR) latest Realtors Confidence Index Survey, buyer demand is at an all-time high across the region. On the supply side, though, this is not the case. The amount of traffic coming in from sellers is simply not keeping up. The following is a breakdown by state:

Buyer traffic is high, but seller traffic is poor, as the maps indicate. Since there are very few homes for sale right now, there is a supply-demand imbalance.

The National Association of Realtors recently announced that the number of homes for sale is currently at 1.28 million, down 22% from a year ago (1.64 million). Furthermore, inventory is at an all-time low, with just 2.3 months' worth of inventory available at the current sales rate. That number will be 6.0 months of inventory in a normal market, which is considerably higher than it is now.

What this means for buyers and sellers

During the search process, buyers must be patient. At the same time, they must be prepared to act quickly until they find the perfect home, as bidding wars are more common when there are few houses for sale.

Sellers, on the other hand, should put their homes on the market right now. With such strong buyer demand and low supply, now is the ideal time to sell a home at the best possible price.

Bottomline

The real estate market is roaring into the new year. If inventory continues to come to market, there's no chance it'll lose its roar.