The #1 Reason Not to Wait to List Your North Conway NH Home for Sale
Many industries have been devastated by the economic shutdown caused by the COVID-19 virus. Real estate is not one of them.
Mark Fleming, Chief Economist for First American, just reported:
“Since hitting a low point during the initial stages of the pandemic, the only major industry to display immunity to the economic impacts of the coronavirus is the housing market. Housing has experienced a strong V-shaped recovery and is now exceeding pre-pandemic levels.”
Buyer demand is still strong heading into the fall. ShowingTime, which tracks the average number of buyer showings on residential properties, just announced that buyer showings are up 61.9% compared to the same time last year. They went on to say:
“Normally, real estate activity begins to slow down in the late summer, but this year it peaked in July, August and into September.”
There Is One Big Challenge to List your North Conway NH Home For Sale too late
Purchaser demand is so high, the market is running out of available homes for sale. Just last week, realtor.com reported:
“Since the beginning of the COVID pandemic in March, nearly 400,000 fewer homes have been listed compared to last year, leaving a gaping hole in the U.S. housing inventory.”
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) revealed that, while home sales are skyrocketing, the inventory of existing homes for sale is dropping dramatically. Below is a graph of existing inventory (September numbers are not yet available):
Homebuilders are increasing construction, but they cannot keep up with the high demand. Bill McBride, founder of the Calculated Risk blog, in discussing inventory of newly constructed houses, notes:
“The months of supply decreased to 3.3 months…This is the all-time record low months of supply.”
What does this mean for sellers?
Anyone thinking of putting their home on the market should not wait. A seller will always negotiate the best deal when demand is high and supply is limited. That’s exactly the situation in the real estate market today. Add in the type of boom in the market for a North Conway NH home for sale: We are primarily attracting short term rental aka Airbnb investors and second home buyers that want the income potential as well.
The North Conway NH home for sale is attracting a buyer that is buying because of a desire or want to be in the local real estate market but this buyer does not need to purchase the second home, rental condo or chalet etc.. When the real estate market gets shaky these buyers will be the first to slow their pace.
This brief window of bidding wars on the decks of mountain chalets will taper off and we may even see a loss of equity from today’s high valuations (often skewed by the cash sales in the area).
Next year, when the pandemic is hopefully behind us, there will be many more properties coming to the market. Don’t wait for that increase in competition in your neighborhood. Now is the time to sell.
Bottom Line
None of is can predict the future. Perhaps the past is still the best way to judge if we are in a cycle or on an unending trajectory. I prefer to believe in the former. As the cycle comes around I can’t help but observe that many many indicators show the values as higher than any previous bubble. Strike while the iron is hot!
Let’s connect today to get your house on the market at this optimal time to sell. Call me or text me at 603-986-0385 or email me at bill@ilovenorthconwy.com for service in the North Conway – Ossipee NH area and Fryeburg – Brownfield Maine.