Here is a snapshot of the market year over year.  There is a lot of noise about a lot of different things in real estate right now but if we look at the snapshot of year over year metrics we can see showings are up 49.5% year-over-year. A lot of people getting out and wanting to look at homes across the country. Purchase applications are up 39%. 

We’re in an interesting period right now where we’re going to start seeing some of these metrics shoot up year over year because this is measuring the weeks when we first started the lockdown last year. So seeing significantly more purchase applications because nobody was applying to mortgages or leaving their house, for that matter. If we look at pending deals, this is actually measuring February. Those down just slightly, but existing home sales and new home sales both up, knocking at the door of almost 10%. 

Where is the issue? The issue is in inventory. We know that across the country it’s something that continues to plague us as an industry. But overall, if we look at some of the other metrics year over year, a very strong market as we head into the spring in April.

Low interest rates have many people running in to buy homes and has caused the inventory challenge across the country. This is the snapshot of new listings coming into market as compared to the total listings in the country. 

Right now across the country on average, we’re down about 52% year over year in the number of homes that are available on the market for those that want to buy them. We are seeing listings coming to market and we certainly want to see that continue to grow as we move into a strong spring market and more and more people are putting their homes on the market but right now a deficit across the country.

If we look at this map right here, we can see the majority of the country in this red, some states in this dark red, in 60+% down year-over-year. No doubt that low interest rates,  the pandemic, and other pressures around housing have caused this issue of low inventory. ⤵️

Experts are forecasting inventory to come back into the market the second half of the year and more as people get more comfortable. Those that are affected by the pandemic economically and having to list their homes, builders building new homes, etc. However as we stand right now, the inventory situation across the country is pretty dramatic in lack of available homes for sale.  

One important piece of information we want to share with you is that single family housing units that have been completed, for the last 13 years they’ve been below the 50 year average. If we go back in time you see the red bars in the middle which is around 2004, 2005, 2006. Some of the record setting times in real estate. Four consecutive years of record setting number of units being built. There were three years in this country when more than a million and a half homes were built.  That never happened before and it never happened again. 

What we know in the housing crisis is builders were very much at the center of real estate and construction lending dried up. Following that time, builders have not been bringing to market the number of units to keep up with population growth. If you look back in the 70s and 80s, more homes were built in this country back then than there are today. 

This image here simply and effectively conveys that message to everyone that we serve that we’re in a deficit here because the number of new units coming to market has not been there. 

Now, builders are building, permits are up right now. They’re concerned, obviously, about rising cost in the new home market but what we need is more builders to build more homes to give people that want to own a home, a chance to do so.

They go on to talk about how that froze up the credit markets across the country. And what do we know? We know that today lending standards have changed. We know that in order to go and obtain financing for a home loan you’ve got to qualify for financing of a home loan and you’ve got to demonstrate the ability to repay. It’s very, very different. No doubt the market that we’re in is showing tremendous demand for homes across the country. 

NAR came out and said this, speaking of demand, “With demand for homes outpacing new listings, buyer competition continues to intensify. On average there were four offers per home sold (closed) February” according to NAR’s latest February realtor confidence index report, a monthly survey of realtors about their transactions.  "One year ago, there were two to three buyers for every home sold. The intense competition has led to double digit price growth and properties selling in record time. To get back to a healthy supply equivalent of six months of monthly demand, an additional 2.7 million homes should be on the market for sale."

In the Town of Plymouth, home sales have increased through the month of March from 32 homes sold in February. The Average Days on Market remained relatively steady at less than one months time. The the Average Sale Price has remained under the $500k range but has increased from $476k in February.  We are seeing less homes on the market in March but it is also difficult to gauge as homes are selling extremely fast.

In the Town of Scituate, the Average Sale Price increased from $694k in February. Home sales have remained consistent at 12 homes sold month over month however there is less overall inventory available on the market vs. February.

In the Town of Kingston, the number of new offerings has increased slightly over the last three months. The number of homes sold has increased since just 5 homes sold in February.  The Average Sale Price has continued to increase slightly, even higher into into the mid-$600K range while spending significantly less time on the market. 

In the Town of Norwell, the Average Days on Market have increased from 9 days in February to over one month in March.  There is limited inventory in many towns, including Norwell however, the number remains fairly consistent month over month with only slight fluctuations. The number of homes sold increased however which shows us that new homes entering the market were being purchased extremely fast which is consistent with most every South Shore and Upper Cape Cod town.  The Average Sale Price increased from $878k in February.

In the Town of Hanover, the number of homes sold increased slightly from 6 in February. The Average Days on Market decreased slightly and the Average Sale price has increased by $178,000.

In the Town of Hull, the number of homes sold has increased increased from 5 homes sold in February. Homes entering the market have remained consistent and there is still a very limited amount of  available inventory.

The Average Days on Market have dramatically decreased from 58 days in February.  The Average Sale Price has increased from $499k in February to over $600k last month.

In the Town of Sandwich, the Average Days on Market decreased significantly while the number of homes sold remained fairly consistent with a slight increase from February.  Available inventory increased from 14 available homes in February as well as a $160,000 increase in the Average Sale Price in March.

In the Town of Falmouth, the Average Sale Price has increased once again from $635K in January and $814K in February.  With limited inventory in most towns, there are still a good amount of new homes entering the market as we moved through the month of March resulting in an overall increase for the first time. The number of homes sold has also increased from 28 since January.

In the Town of Yarmouth Port, property sales have increased slightly since for the first time since February.  The Average Days on Market increased significantly from 21 days in February however, more homes entered the market in the month of March - more the double.