Cervone, Deegan + Associates knows that the housing demand has been extremely high to the point that it is driving home prices to establish new records. According to a recent release from the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) for the month of March we have seen record-high home prices and year-over-year increases in the total number of sales of homes in all four primary sectors of the country.

 

While home sales were up this year over last year at this time, there was a slight decline in the number of sales from the month before. The sheer lack of inventory is still posing its challenges with not enough options for buyers.

 

“The sales for March would have been measurably higher, had there been more inventory,” he added. “Days-on-market are swift, multiple offers are prevalent, and buyer confidence is rising.”

 

 

Total housing inventory was down 28.2% from last year at this time with unsold inventory levels at just over a two month supply at the current sales pace. Total inventory is near all-time lows since NAR first began recording numbers of supply back in 1982.

 

The median existing home price for all property types in the month of March was now crossing the $300,000 threshold coming in at $329,100. This was up by 17.2% over last year at this time with price gains being seen for all major regions. This also makes for the 109th month in a row for year-over-year increases.

 

Regardless of any variances in mortgage rates, they are still remaining attractively low with a positive forecast for the year. The average for a fixed rate mortgage was 3.08% for the month of March which was lower than all of 2020’s average of 3.11%.

 

The average days on the market for properties for sale in March was only 18 days. This was down from the 20 days seen the month before and roughly half of March of 2020 at 29 days. The majority of homes that had sold in March were on the market for less than one month.

 

NAR shares their forecast by stating “At least half of the adult population has received a COVID-19 vaccination, according to reports, and recent housing starts and job creation data show encouraging dynamics of more supply and strong demand in the housing sector.”