Today’s hot housing market is one of the peculiar outcrops of the pandemic. Housing supply was already low before Covid-19, but it was further hampered as lockdowns took place and people began looking for new homes, driven by a host of reasons—from the desire to leave populated cities to better home offices or just fear of missing out (FOMO). So what does the Fall real estate market have to offer?
The Federal Reserve’s steps last year to keep the financial markets liquid and to ensure mortgage rates stayed low have continued. But the low mortgage rates pale in comparison to soaring housing prices in the past year.
Home prices nationwide, including distressed sales, grew by 17.2% in June 2021 compared with June 2020—a record high, according to the latest CoreLogic report. And while there have certainly been hot seller’s markets in the past, none quite compare to the current market where more than 50% of homes for sale have fetched over the asking price.
“We’ve been tracking housing prices for over 20 years, and we’ve never seen anything like this,” says Frank Nothaft, chief economist at CoreLogic.
Historically, the Fall real estate market ushers in less competition and better deals as children return to school and the holidays overtake schedules. But the pandemic altered that trend last year, and many cities are going through double-digit percentage increases in housing prices.
To get some insight into what prospective buyers and sellers can expect as we enter the midpoint of summer, Forbes Advisor spoke to housing experts across the country to get their forecast on home prices, rates and buyer appetite in the Fall real estate market.