Potential Sellers Are Growing More Confident

Here’s an interesting article about Seller confidence in our crazy market….good insight into what is happening in the current real estate market.
Potential Sellers Are Growing More Confident

In a normal year, we’d be talking about gearing up for the traditional selling season, the time period when listing a home for sale is more likely to attract the most eyeballs and maximum dollars.

But the selling season appears to have started already — in October. If anything, we’re into  Season Three, and home sales are still going full blast — with more to come.

Zillow research shows that homes appreciated faster in 2020 than they have in more than a dozen years; in January, they sold at more than twice the rate as the previous two Januarys.

Even more stunning: Zillow economists predict that about 6.6 million existing homes will sell this year — just over 17% more than in 2020.

Homeowners thinking about selling in the near future seem to be taking it all in.

With the rollout of vaccines against COVID-19, 70% of homeowners in a recent Zillow survey say they would feel mostly or completely comfortable moving to a new home when vaccines are widely distributed — and 78% of homeowners who say widespread vaccine distribution would impact their decision to move say such distribution would makes them more likely to move.

That’s good news for buyers.

Last fall, Zillow research found that 29% of homeowners reported that their life or financial situation was too uncertain. The share of homeowners feeling such uncertainty in January dropped to 25%, a sign that potential sellers are growing more confident amid positive news about the continued demand for homes, rapid home appreciation and vaccine distribution.

Homeowners who sold their homes during the uncertainty of 2020 were often rewarded with offers above the list price, shorter selling times and buyer demand that lasted well past the traditional “peak” selling season. That trend is likely to continue into 2021 as vaccine distribution continues to help open the economy.

“We expect that the vaccine rollout will likely boost inventory, as sellers become increasingly willing to move despite COVID-19 — resulting in greater numbers of new listings beginning this spring,” says Chris Glynn, principal economist at Zillow. “That injection of inventory could give buyers more options and breathing room in a competitive market. The vaccine, however, will also likely add to already-strong demand, given that most sellers will become buyers as they trade in for a home that better suits their new needs.” 

Zillow research shows that 63% of sellers are also buyers. And, as buyers, they have specific reasons for selling. 

A recent Zillow survey shows that homeowners who are thinking of selling in the next three years have a variety of reasons for doing so.