As supply chain issues and labor shortages continue to impact the housing market, builders have not been able to make progress toward closing the gap in new home demand. A new report released this week by Realtor.com found that the gap between single-family home construction and household formations grew from 3.84 million homes at the beginning of 2019 to 5.8 million homes at the end of 2021.
U.S. Housing Supply to Remain a Major Challenge for Home Buyers in 2022. While housing supply remains low, buyers will continue to compete for homes.
Last year was one for the real estate history books. The pandemic helped usher in a buying frenzy that caused home prices to soar nationwide by a record 19.9%. However, there were signs in the fourth quarter that the red-hot housing market was beginning to simmer down. In the month of October, only 60.3% of sales involved a bidding war—down from a high of 74.5% in April.2
The FHA has announced new loan limits for 2022. The amounts have increased 18%.
September 2021 marked the first month since May 2020 in which annual home price growth decelerated, with home prices increasing 19.5% year over year, down from 19.8% in August.
Homebuyers today are facing a huge dilemma. There simply aren’t enough homes for sale.1
Nationwide, there were 1.27 million active listings in September, down 13% from the previous year. According to the National Association of Realtors, that’s about 2.4 months of inventory, which is far less than the six months that is generally needed to strike a healthy balance between supply and demand.2
Given the limited number of available properties, if you’re a buyer in today’s market, you may need to expand your search to include both new construction and resale homes. But it can feel a little like comparing apples to oranges.
You may be wondering if now is a good time to buy a home…or if interest rates are projected to rise or fall. The free eGuide below will answer many of your questions and likely bring up a few things you didn’t even know you should consider when buying a home.
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.
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 sparking a rise in home prices across the country.
