Traditionally, the spring season is known as the best time to sell, buy, and close on a house. However, this is expected to change in 2021.
Due to COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions, the whole housing market and its timeline had to adjust. According to George Ratiu, the senior economist with Realtor.com, “What happened is we had a shifted seasonal pattern. Summer became spring, and then we saw the activity in terms of demand for housing continue well into this fall”.
There has been a surge in house sales in the last couple of months due to the spring market losses due to COVID-19. Proof of this is when house sales grew to an annual rate of 6.85 million in October, which was the highest number since 2006.
Lawrence Yun, the chief economist for NAR, stated he expects the home market growth to increase due to the new COVD-19 vaccine and mortgage rate projections to be around 3% in 2021.
However, this seasonal shift is expected to last throughout 2021.