{"id":18153,"date":"2020-12-01T13:16:09","date_gmt":"2020-12-01T13:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.anthonydidonato.net\/wordpress\/?p=18153"},"modified":"2020-12-01T13:16:09","modified_gmt":"2020-12-01T13:16:09","slug":"what-real-estate-has-to-be-grateful-for-in-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.anthonydidonato.net\/wordpress\/what-real-estate-has-to-be-grateful-for-in-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"What Real Estate Has to Be Grateful For in 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"

What Real Estate Has to Be Grateful For in 2020<\/h1>\n
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No doubt, 2020 has been a uniquely challenging year. With unemployment still above\u00a0pre-pandemic levels, the country coming to terms with\u00a0longstanding racial inequities<\/a>, Americans\u00a0worrying about\u00a0natural disasters<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0coming off\u00a0a contentious national election, and the COVID-19 pandemic still raging, people are searching for reasons to feel\u00a0gratitude this Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n

The housing market has emerged\u00a0as an economic bright spot. While the nation continues to feel\u00a0the widespread effects from 2020\u2019s turmoil, here are\u00a0a few things the real estate industry can be grateful for this year.<\/p>\n

1. Booming home sales.<\/strong> Overall, real estate professionals have been busy. Homebuying activity is at its highest level since 2006. Defying high unemployment and an economic recession, the housing market has surged during the COVID-19 pandemic. Existing-home sales in October were 27% higher than a year ago<\/a>, new-home sales were\u00a032% higher<\/a>, and pending home sales or contract signings in September jumped 20.5%<\/a> annually. \u201cThis winter may be one of the best winters for sales activity,\u201d Lawrence Yun, NAR\u2019s chief economist, said during last week\u2019s virtual 2020 REALTOR\u00ae Conference & Expo<\/a>. \u201cIt won\u2019t match summer or spring sales numbers, but on a winter-to-winter comparison, this could be one of the best breakout years just based on the fact that pending contracts are at such a higher level.\u201d Mortgage applications, up 20% year over year, reflect buyers in the pipeline,\u00a0 ready to buy. The downside: Buyers are in a frenzy to compete for the limited housing stock; 72% of homes that sold in October were on the market for less than a month, NAR\u2019s data shows.<\/p>\n

2. Record low mortgage rates.<\/strong> Home buyers are locking in some of the lowest mortgage rates ever in history. Last week, for the 13th time this year, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage set a record low<\/a>, averaging 2.72%, according to Freddie Mac. NAR\u2019s Yun predicts that mortgage rates will stay low into 2021, averaging 3.1% for all of next year. \u201cThese ultra-low mortgage rates significantly lower mortgage payments, making housing more affordable than a year earlier in many areas,\u201d even with prices rising, writes Nadia Evangelou, a research economist, on NAR\u2019s Economists\u2019 Outlook blog<\/a>. For example, in the Washington, D.C., metro area, home prices have jumped nearly 12% compared to a year earlier, Evangelou notes. However, the monthly payment on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is lower than a year ago, averaging $1,820.<\/p>\n

3. Seller equity.<\/strong> Home sellers are getting a boost financially from housing appreciation. The median existing-home price for all housing types was $313,000 in October<\/a>\u2014a 16% increase from a year ago. Sixty-five percent of 181 metro areas NAR recently tracked have reported double-digit price gains<\/a> compared to a year ago.<\/p>\n

That means home owners who haven’t taken a financial hit from the pandemic are feeling richer. In the third quarter, 16.7 million residential properties in the U.S., or 28.3% overall, were considered \u201cequity rich,\u201d according to a report from ATTOM Data Solutions, a real estate research data firm<\/a>. A property is considered equity rich when the property owner has at least 50% equity in the home. \u201cHomeowner equity in the third quarter added another pebble to the pile of markers showing that the U.S. housing market continues to defy the broad downturn in the economy this year,\u201d said Todd Teta, chief product and technology officer for ATTOM Data Solutions. \u201cHome prices keep rising, boosting the balance sheets of homeowners throughout most of the country. \u2026 The market is strong and homeowners remain in a position to benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n

4. Technology.<\/strong>\u00a0With people forced to keep their distance during the pandemic, technology became real estate pros\u2019 ally in keeping transactions moving. Nick Bailey, chief customer officer at RE\/MAX LLC, said during last week\u2019s REALTOR\u00ae Conference & Expo<\/a> that the average real estate transaction takes 181 steps from beginning to end, and technology has increasingly responded to those steps. During state shutdowns earlier this year, real estate professionals increasingly relied on virtual and 3D tours, videoconferencing, augmented reality, automation, artificial intelligence, and remote online notarizations, Jeb Griffin, NAR\u2019s director of strategy and innovation, said during the conference. \u201cTechnology is playing a more active role through the buying and selling cycle, and agents are playing an even bigger role to consumers who [have] less access to homes in person [due to the pandemic],\u201d Griffin said. The future now requires \u201ctaking the traditional way of doing business and augmenting it with new ways that will allow you to serve customers in a variety of ways\u2014and on their terms,\u201d added Andy Ambrose, DocuSign practice lead director at DocuSign Notary. (Read more: Tech Tools to Help Pros Thrive During the Pandemic<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

5. New priorities. <\/strong>\u201cThe coronavirus without a doubt led home buyers to reassess their housing situations and even reconsider home sizes and destinations,\u201d Jessica Lautz, vice president of demographics and behavioral insights for NAR, said about recent findings from the \u201c2020 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers<\/a>.\u201d \u201cBuyers sought housing with more rooms, more square footage, and more yard space, as they may have desired a home office or home gym. They also shopped for larger homes because extra space would allow households to better accommodate older adult relatives or young adults that are now living within the residence.\u201d (Read more: NAR Survey Reveals 14 Home Buying, Selling Trends Since the Pandemic<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

6. Affirmation of your value. <\/strong>As Americans reevaluated what they wanted from a home, they increasingly relied on real estate agents to guide them through purchase and sales transactions. Eighty-eight percent of buyers reported using an agent to purchase their home, and 89% of sellers used an agent to help with their sale, according to NAR\u2019s survey. “We are all in unknown territory with this pandemic, so it’s no surprise that more buyers than ever turned to agents to help them navigate through some of the uncertainties and one of the most complex, competitive markets any of us have ever seen,\u201d said NAR\u2019s immediate past president Vince Malta when the Home Buyer and Seller Profile was released<\/a>.<\/p>\n

7. The sanctity of home. <\/strong>\u201cNothing feels more precious this year than the safety of our homes,\u201d Shannon McGahn, NAR\u2019s chief advocacy officer, told REALTOR\u00ae Magazine in addressing advocacy efforts of the association this year<\/a>, \u201cand we believe all Americans should have equal opportunity to a home of their own.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u00a9National Association of REALTORS\u00ae
\nReprinted with permission<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What Real Estate Has to Be Grateful For in 2020 No doubt, 2020 has been a uniquely challenging year. With unemployment still above\u00a0pre-pandemic levels, the country coming to terms with\u00a0longstanding racial inequities, Americans\u00a0worrying about\u00a0natural disasters\u00a0and\u00a0coming off\u00a0a contentious national election, and the COVID-19 pandemic still raging, people are searching for reasons to feel\u00a0gratitude this Thanksgiving. The … <\/p>\n

Continue reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,8],"tags":[5,32,4,9],"class_list":["post-18153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-real-estate-tips","tag-anthony-didonato","tag-news","tag-real-estate","tag-tips","item-wrap"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Real Estate Has to Be Grateful For in 2020 - Real Estate Agent and Sales in PA - Anthony DiDonato Broomall, Media, Delaware County and surrounding areas in Pennsylvania<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.anthonydidonato.net\/wordpress\/what-real-estate-has-to-be-grateful-for-in-2020\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.anthonydidonato.net\\\/wordpress\\\/what-real-estate-has-to-be-grateful-for-in-2020\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.anthonydidonato.net\\\/wordpress\\\/what-real-estate-has-to-be-grateful-for-in-2020\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.anthonydidonato.net\\\/wordpress\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/964792b6994e8cc4cbddc36ad4824908\"},\"headline\":\"What Real Estate Has to Be Grateful For in 2020\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-12-01T13:16:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.anthonydidonato.net\\\/wordpress\\\/what-real-estate-has-to-be-grateful-for-in-2020\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1061,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.anthonydidonato.net\\\/wordpress\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/964792b6994e8cc4cbddc36ad4824908\"},\"keywords\":[\"Anthony DiDonato\",\"News\",\"Real Estate\",\"tips\"],\"articleSection\":[\"News\",\"Real Estate Tips\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.anthonydidonato.net\\\/wordpress\\\/what-real-estate-has-to-be-grateful-for-in-2020\\\/\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.anthonydidonato.net\\\/wordpress\\\/what-real-estate-has-to-be-grateful-for-in-2020\\\/\",\"name\":\"What Real Estate Has to Be Grateful For in 2020 - 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