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2021 Top 10 News Stories from our “Real News You Can Use” Newsletters.

Handholding Houses2021 was a fascinating year for the real estate market — particularly in the Greater Boston Area. Over the past 12 months, the Hickman-Coen Home Team tracked all the breaking news in our “Real News You Can Use” newsletters. Check out the stories which most interested our readers in 2021

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No. 10 – How far are Boston homeowners willing to commute? 

With the increased number of professionals working remotely, today’s homebuyers are putting less of a premium on commute time and more on affordability in their search, often finding a home farther out from downtown areas, including right here in Boston.

Using traffic data from HERE Technologies, Zillow found affordability to be more important than commute time. According to the report, home values are growing slowest and even falling in expensive areas close to downtown where jobs are centered, a trend reflecting homeowners’ desire for better affordability and more space because of the flexibility remote work offers.

Curbed Boston

No. 9 – 5 Factors That Reveal Where the Real Estate Market Is Really Headed

It’s the old supply-and-demand predicament: Home sales in the U.S. continue at a torrid pace, but the availability of listings remains limited. Buoyed by historically low mortgage rates, buyers keep shopping for homes, reducing the available inventory and rising home prices.

News website The Atlantic summarized the sizzling home market this way:

Hickman-Coen Home Team

No. 8 – How the U.S. Housing Market Was Rocked by COVID-19—and Where We Go From Here

As home buyers already know full well, the residential real estate market has been on a wild tear for the past few years—and the pandemic has pushed things to new, uncharted extremes. Buyers who had been cooped up indoors for months rushed into the market seeking larger homes in suburban and even remote locations. They were spurred on by record-low mortgage interest rates. And what have those masses of would-be buyers found? A fiercely competitive housing market marked by soaring prices and not nearly enough homes to go around.

So now everyone wants to know: What’s going to happen with housing in 2021?

Realtor.com

No. 7 –9 Tips for Buying and Selling Your Home at the Same Time

Selling your home when you still need to shop for a new one can feel daunting to even the most seasoned homeowner––especially when the demand for new homes keeps rising, but the supply feels like it’s dwindling.¹ You’re not alone either if you’re already feeling drained by the complex logistics of trying to sell and buy a new home all at once.

Hickman-Coen Home Team

No. 6 –5 Surprising Facts About Refinancing Your Home

If you’re a homeowner with no plans to move anytime soon, you can take advantage of historically low-interest rates by refinancing your home. While this can be a smart financial decision, there are five facts about the process that might surprise you.

Marketwatch

 

No. 5 – How often is too often to refinance your mortgage?

With mortgage refi rates still near record lows (some 30-year rates are around 3% and some 15-year rates around 2.5%, as you can see here), you might be wondering just how often you can refinance. The answer, says Holden Lewis, home and mortgage expert at NerdWallet, is often that you can refinance as often as you wish. “The main exception is cash-out refinances. In most cases, you have to have your mortgage for six months before you can refinance it for more than you owe,” says Lewis.

Marketwatch

 

No. 4 – What Boston-area Homebuyers Need to Know During the Coronavirus Pandemic

The Boston area has long been a difficult place to buy a home. Prices are high compared with most of the country, and the competition for condos and houses is fierce. Bidding wars and purchase prices well over asking have been features of the market for years. All-cash offers in the high six figures and beyond are not uncommon.

Curbed Boston

No. 3 – What Goes Up Must Come Down — Or Must It?

Housing PricesLow inventory and high demand have been driving home prices at a record pace and to record heights now for months.

Most recently, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported in April that the median single-family home price nationwide rose 18.4% year over year in March to $334,500, both record highs.

Motley Fool

No. 2- 11 Predictions For The Future Of The Real Estate Market

The real estate market was thrown into a tumultuous state when the Covid-19 pandemic struck. Between people losing work and being afraid or unable to move, the year in lockdown made a significant impact on the market.

Even as life regains a sense of normalcy, there are several factors that will continue to impact housing prices, buyer behavior, and the real estate market in general. Here, 11 members of Forbes Real Estate Council share their expert predictions for the future of the real estate market through the end of 2021 and into 2022.

Forbes

 

No. 1 – Where have all the houses gone?

Much of the housing market has gone missing. On suburban streets and in many urban neighborhoods, across large and midsize metro areas, many homes that would have typically come up for sale over the past year never did. Even in cities with a pandemic glut of empty apartments and falling rents, it has become incredibly hard to buy a home.

Boston.com