The year started off with sky-high home prices and little inventory. And while we’ve seen slight indications of a slowing market, execs from Redfin and Zillow told Inman yesterday that they predict a strong finish to 2021.
Speaking with Katie Kossev, of The Kossev Group, Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather and Zillow Senior Economist Jeff Tucker predicted that the housing market may not be quite as hot as this past Spring.
“2021 has started off with such an intense bang and the housing market really got untenable for a while there,” Daryl Fairweather said during Inman Connect. “I think now the housing market has kind of reached its maximum temperature. I’m really watching closing to see what happens next.”
“We’re seeing pretty similar things here at Zillow,” Jeff Tucker added. “This is the hottest housing market on record. The speed of the industry has increased dramatically. We seem to be near the bottom for inventory. We’re finally seeing just a few more options out there in this kind of drought-parched landscape. So that seems to be bringing a little bit of balance back to the market where it’s not just 100 percent of the negotiating power on sellers’ side. Nonetheless, the pendulum I don’t think is going to swing entirely in the other direction.”
Noting that mortgage applications are generally down (as noted earlier this morning), Fairweather and Tucker spoke about how the market is likely at a turning point. Additionally, the lack of inventory may be starting to become prohibitive for buyers.
“We’re paying a lot of attention to the early indicators because we do feel like we’re in this moment where the housing market could be shifting,” Fairweather added.
“The volume of sales, and frankly the growth rate of sales volume, this spring was a bit of a downside disappointment,” Tucker said. “So we’re trying to get a handle on that and certainly trying to gauge how much of that is a supply-side issue of not enough listings out there versus a demand-side issue.”
Read more of the Inman Connect recap by clicking here.