Time to move out of the basement!

Kicking off this week’s post with a fascinating study I recently read.  It seems that 52% of young adults are still living with their parents, which is a 110 year high!  Surely the pandemic is impacting this section of the housing sector as it is all others but still a surprise to me.  What does that mean for the market?  Lots and lots of new prospective purchasers will be hitting the market shortly!

A trend in the market that is gaining more prevalence is the “sight unseen” contract offer.  It’s an interesting iteration that has risks for both sides.  The buyer’s side is pretty straight forward.  Despite an abundance of information and photo and video resources houses are still different once you get in them.  And given how the market is with purchasers having to waive many if not all of the contingencies it represents a significant risk.  Think:  The scenario where your spouse has seen it and you trust their judgement on steroids.   On the sellers side unless those contingencies are waived or there is some form of deposit forfeiture for backing out the risk of a buyer changing their mind on a property they haven’t seen is not that appealing.   So we’re seeing more of them but given the drawbacks to both sides and the abundance of other choices for sellers in most situations I don’t think it will become a significant part of the market.

The broken record on inventory continues to play but with some expected relief on the horizon.  We are down 17% over this week last year at 1,459 homes.  But this is the week where inventory levels began a nice steady climb towards the Spring market and I’m seeing anecdotal evidence that points to a similar trajectory this year.  Welcome news for sure.

We are still sitting at a .6 months supply of houses for sale and a .5 months supply on the rental side.  Condo’s, especially 1 BR’s are sitting in many areas for reasons you can guess at and that I’ve blogged about in depth previously.  Expect that trend to continue.

Monitoring the distressed market things are pointing in the right direction, a trend that will continue as long as there is Forbearance coverage, though that will change somewhat when that program inevitably ends.  When that happens it will be an adjustment, not a shock.  Some 5 million people failed to make a mortgage or rent payment in January, yet the delinquency rate fell to a pandemic low of 5.9%, down from 6.1%.  Only 9 foreclosures and 9 shorts sales on the market.

All of this once again points to a continued, resilient real estate market in the Northern Virginia reason.  If you are ready to buy or sell, give me a call and I’ll show you how to maximize your results on either side of the market!

It’s a good life.

Chris