Here are the updated national housing market trends—home prices, inventory, sales, and forecast. If you're wondering what the state of the housing market 2020 will be like over the next twelve months, especially if you're an investor, then here is some good news for you. Given the current fundamentals, real estate sales should remain strong in most U.S. houisng markets for the foreseeable future. The US housing market has begun to show signs of heating up as more buyers and sellers returned to the market in July.
Housing units are still in short supply with the problem getting worse. Unsold inventory sits at a near 4.0-month supply at the current sales pace. Buying activity slowed due to the pandemic but has significantly rebounded since June. The pent-up demand drove the home prices up 8.1 percent in July. In fact, in just the second quarter alone, the housing demand went from being down 41% to up 40% year-over-year. That's a quick and huge bounce back even seen before in the housing market.
Low mortgage rates, population growth, and an increase in buyer interest are further driving the demand for available housing. Earlier, in the first quarter, some economists had predicted that housing prices would fall in 2020 but such forecasts are losing grounds as the U.S. housing market, so far, remains undaunted by the economic recession.
Home prices rose during the pandemic and could rise even further due to heavy buyer competition and a significant shortage of supply. In July, the national median home price gain marked 101 straight months of year-over-year gains. According to Realtor.com, it has taken four months for the U.S. housing market to get back to the more normal pace of growth we saw before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Long-term mortgage rates continued to move lower this week, with a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage falling to a record low for the second consecutive week.
I just locked down a 2.875% interest rate, fixed for the 15-year term of the mortgage. No points. With rates like these, I find myself rethinking the idea that I want to pay off my mortgage.
So far, I’ve never heard the same commotion in the market and the media unlike earlier this year when the US economy earned an embarrassing downgrade.
