As we roll into February, we are seeing one of the strongest seller’s markets on record! Last week 6 houses were listed in 21146. As of this writing, 5 are under contract, and one has received an offer and will likely be under contract by the end of the day today. The previous week also saw 6 new listings, and all were under contract by the following Monday morning! Compare that to the last week of January last year when we saw 10 new listings in Severna Park, and only 3 went under contract the first week on market, 3 more the 2nd week. 3 others took 30-85 days, and one never sold. 8 of the 9 sold for a net price under the asking price, and 6 of the 9 involved a seller concession.
We are entering uncharted territory, with some buyers getting 30 year mortgage at rates of 2.5% or even lower, at a time when fewer sellers are listing, and more buyers are looking to purchase. We at the Severna Park Team have a backlog of qualified buyers, and many other local agents are in the same boat. To make matters worse, many clients who would like to sell to move up into a different home can’t find the right home, which further exacerbates our inventory dilemma.
Real estate agents are know for always saying that “Now is the right time to sell”, no matter what the market, but without question, more so than any time we’ve seen in the past 15 years, and possibly more so than anytime ever, now really is the best time to sell! Of course, the extremely low interest rates are making the cost of financing much cheaper for buyers as well, so it seems that should keep the buyer pool strong until the inventory balance is able to find an equilibrium. If you’ve had any thoughts of selling, now really is the time!
