While winter may be typically a slow season in real estate, economists predict it isn’t likely to happen this year. Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the National Association of REALTORS®, says “it will be one of the best winter sales years ever.”

Low inventories combined with high demand due to record-low mortgage rates is sending buyers to the market in a flurry. Many home buyers are looking to upsize their homes as they work from home and their children attend school at home. Also, as remote work remains an option for many and some employers make it a permanent situation for office workers, some house hunters are looking farther away from city limits in search of bigger homes and greater affordability.

“We currently see buyers sticking around in the housing market much later than we usually do this fall,” says Danielle Hale, realtor.com®’s chief economist. “If that trend continues, we will see more buyers in the market this winter, too. So this winter is likely to be a good time to sell.”

Shelby McDaniels, channel director of corporate home lending for Chase, told realtor.com® that the company is expecting an extended home purchase season in 2020 that stretches well into 2021.

Inventories are way lower than in years past. The national housing inventory has shown some recent improvment, but it still has dropped 39% since last year, according to realtor.com®’s Monthly Housing Market Trends Report. High buyer demand mixed with low inventory is an advantage to sellers, says Yun. (Read more: More New Listings Are Finally Emerging.)

Hale says that even as more homes gradually hit the market, there are still few homes available for sale. “That will keep upward pressure on home prices and help ensure that homes continue to sell quickly,” Hale says.

Seventy-one percent of homes sold in September were on the market for less than a month, according to NAR data. Properties typically stayed on the market for just 21 days in September—an all-time low. That is down from 32 days a year ago.

Tracy Jones, a real estate professional with RE/MAX Platinum Realty in Sarasota, Fla., told realtor.com® that buyers are facing increased competition and have been forced to make quick decisions or risk losing a home they want. “The buyers I have worked with this year only had a handful of homes to look at,” Jones told realtor.com®. “They had no time to wait and talk about it, and they had to fight other buyers if they wanted to buy them.”

Abandoned foreclosures labeled as “zombies” still haunt some housing markets even as moratoriums to stop home seizures during the pandemic remain in effect. While the number of “zombie foreclosures” has shrunk drastically during the COVID-19 outbreak, some homeowners who may be missing out on pandemic relief aid may be needlessly abandoning a home.

“Zombie foreclosures” refer to homes that have been vacated by homeowners prior to a foreclosure being completed.

“It’s worth noting that while foreclosure moratoria have caused the number of zombie properties to drop slightly, the percentage of foreclosure properties in zombie status has increased,” says Rick Sharga, executive vice president of RealtyTrac. “It’s likely that as the length of time it takes to execute a foreclosure continues to increase, we’ll also continue to see the percentage of vacant and abandoned foreclosure homes increase.”

There is help available for the growing number of homeowners who are delinquent on their mortgages, according to a recent Urban Institute report. About 400,000 homeowners are delinquent at a time when banks are offering pandemic-related foreclosure moratoriums—upon homeowners’ request. So anyone affected by the economic downfall brought on by the coronavirus can put their mortgage payments on hold for several months.

But struggling borrowers who fail to contact their lenders for help may risk foreclosure by falling behind on their payments.

The Midwest and South had the highest zombie foreclosure rates in the fourth quarter, according to ATTOM Data Solutions’ fourth-quarter 2020 Vacant Property and Zombie Foreclosure Report. In particular, states such as Iowa (15.5%), Kentucky (12%), Missouri (10.2%), Georgia (9.6%), and Maryland (9.2%) have the highest clusters of vacant foreclosures.

Zombie rates in the fourth quarter rose in 37 states and Washington, D.C. While the highest rates of zombie foreclosures remain in the South and Midwest, the highest actual numbers of zombie properties are in the Northeastern and Midwestern states, led by Florida, Illinois, Ohio, and New Jersey.

“Some of the states with the highest rate of zombie foreclosure properties are also states that have been among the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Sharga says. “When the government bans on foreclosure activity expire, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the number of defaults in those states increase more rapidly than other parts of the country, and the number of zombie foreclosure properties rise more dramatically in those states as well.”

Broken out by metro level, the areas that had the highest zombie foreclosure rates in the fourth quarter are Kansas City, Mo. (17.2% of properties in the foreclosure process); Peoria, Ill. (16.3%); Omaha, Neb. (15%); Davenport, Iowa (13.8%); and Cleveland (13.2%).

On the other hand, the metro areas with the lowest zombie rates in the fourth quarter are San Francisco (0.8% of foreclosure properties); Charlotte, N.C. (1.4%); Denver (1.7%); Philadelphia (1.7%); and New York City (1.8%).

© REALTOR® MAGAZINE

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage continued to hover near its all-time low this week, as economists predict that historically low rates will likely remain into 2021.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.81% this week, up slightly from last week’s 2.80%, which was the lowest ever in Freddie Mac’s records, dating back nearly 50 years.

“The record-low mortgage rate environment is providing tangible support to the economy at a critical time, as housing continues to propel growth,” says Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “Strong purchase demand is helping to lift the construction, manufacturing, and transportation industries that build new homes and it is also leading to more consumer spending for owners, who are selling or improving their home.”

Ultra-low mortgage rates have helped homebuying activity to increase by nearly 70% compared to May, writes Nadia Evangelou, a research economist for the National Association of REALTORS® at the association’s blog.

Many homeowners are also taking advantage of the low mortgage rates to refinance their loans for lower monthly payments. Homeowners could save about $150 per month, on average, on their mortgage compared with rates a year ago. Mortgage rates lately are more than a full percentage point lower than rates over the last five years.

Greg McBride, chief financial analyst of Bankrate, predicts mortgage rates will hold steady into 2021. “Mortgage rates will remain at historically low levels and in no way be an impediment to well-qualified borrowers,” says McBride.

The direction of the economy will play a critical role in how long rates stay at record lows, economists add. “Rates will remain low for at least another year,” Ken H. Johnson, a housing economist at Florida Atlantic University, told Bankrate.com. “I just do not see full or near-full economic recovery until COVID-19 is no longer or minimally impacts the economy.”

Some lenders say rates could fall even lower in the coming weeks. Gordon Miller of Miller Lending Group in Cary, N.C., told Bankrate.com that the combination of economic volatility and political uncertainty could make rates go lower. “I don’t think we’ve bottomed yet,” Miller told Bankrate.com. “That would suggest a rate within a quarter-point of where we are.”

For the week ending Oct. 29, Freddie Mac reports the following national averages with mortgage rates:

• 30-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 2.81%, with an average 0.7 point, up slightly from last week’s 2.80% average. Last year at this time, 30-year rates averaged 3.78%.
• 15-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 2.32%, with an average 0.6 point, falling slightly from last week’s 2.33% average. A year ago, 15-year rates averaged 3.19%.
• 5-year hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages: averaged 2.88%, with an average 0.3 point, rising from last week’s 2.87% average. A year ago, 5-year ARMs averaged 3.43%.

Freddie Mac reports average commitment rates along with average points to better reflect the total upfront cost of obtaining the mortgage. A point is the fee that buyers usually pay to get a better rate.

CommercialCafe, a listing site for commercial real estate, says it registered a record number of website visits—even surpassing pre-pandemic records—as online interest in office space surged in August and September.

Google searches are showing the same. Commercial real estate-related terms are nearing pre-pandemic levels, according to Google Trends. Terms such as “office space for rent” are seeing a higher number of searches now than in January or February of this year. This does mark a drastic change: Searches for “commercial real estate” and “commercial property” dropped sharply while the nation was mostly in lockdown to try to control the virus in March and April.

CommercialCafe recently surveyed 1,882 respondents to learn more about tenants’ current leasing process. Forty percent said they were actively searching for office space and that they were ready to sign a lease.

The two most important criteria in their search: location (71%) and rent price (70%). These factors far outpaced the rest of criteria for respondents in choosing their next office property, according to the survey.

Respondents also expressed an increase desire for certain amenities in their next office space, led by demand for parking space (39%) and natural light (32%). Some respondents also showed an interest in health and safety measures, although at a much lower percentage in comparison. Sixteen percent of respondents expressed an interest in improved HVAC and antimicrobial furniture, and 11% were looking for buildings with multiple entrances to reduce crowding.

Fast Company is calling patio propane heaters the “new toilet paper” of pandemic sales. That’s because heaters are flying off store shelves at record speeds as homeowners look to extend their outdoor spaces amid cooler weather in many locales.

The pandemic has prompted greater interest in home outdoor space as owners try to maximize every square inch. It’s become an important consideration for home shoppers too. Real estate stagers are paying particular attention to showing off homes’ outdoor amenities, which includes adding fire pits with surrounding chairs and a tray of s’mores ingredients to set a scene. They also may even bring in a patio heater to show how a spot can be used even as the weather cools.

“As it gets colder outside, shoppers are looking for ways to extend the use of their outdoor spaces with fire pits, outdoor heaters, outdoor lights, canopies, and even hot tubs,” Jonathan Johnson, CEO of Overstock.com, an internet retailer, told Fast Company. Sales of patio heaters at Overstock.com from March 1 to Oct. 1 climbed by 1,150% in the Northeast, by 816% in the South, and by 734% in the West.

Restaurants, hotels, and property management firms also have been buying up patio heaters to make greater use of their public spaces in the colder weather.

Fast Company reports that Ace Hardware has seen a 60% jump in the sale of outdoor heating products compared to last year. Its most trending items are wood- and gas-burning fire pits. Amazon’s best-selling outdoor heating item is a 22-inch fire pit. Hannah Album, senior manager of consumer communications for Etsy, told Fast Company that the site has also seen a surge in searches for fire pits and accessories, plus outdoor blankets and outdoor lights.