Summer is here. I can tell by the “Excessive Heat” warning in place due to today’s predicted 98 degree high temperature. That’s summer weather.
But how does summer weather impact the real estate market? It’s time to update our chart of weekly listings to include the second half of the year. The number of Hartford County single-family listings each week is shown by the blue area in the background. As a point of comparison, the orange line shows the number of new listings from the comparable week in 2019.
The impact of stay-at-home orders continue to be clearly visible in March, April, and May. June trended about equal with 2019, while the past two weeks have seen 2020 listing slightly outnumber 2019 listings.
The June Contracts report showed that there were an incredibly high number of contracts signed during the month. That happened despite low, and falling, inventory of available homes for buyers to choose from.
July is on track for more of the same. Another unusually high total of contracts signed, and an even lower number of available homes than at the beginning of the month.
August will be the month where we see just how far buyers are able to push the market. The chart above shows that last year the number of new listings fell each week in August before there was a modest post-Labor Day bump.
If property owners decide to take advantage of the hot market and list their homes, then there are likely to be buyers who will make them an offer. Right now there are just not that many homes available for the number of buyers active in the market. Without new listings, buyers are going to be forced to slow down the pace of their collective dealmaking.
The is a unique opportunity for homeowners who are open to selling, and unlikely to last forever. I’m happy to tell you more about your specific situation, and whether you have a chance to benefit from the very hot real estate market.