In the Twin Cities, the market is excellent for home sellers with a house in good condition and beneficial for buyers that get low interest rates... but this has it's challenges.
What Are the Top Challenges for Today’s Buyers?
Everybody's home search is different. Where one buyer may fall in love, make an offer, and sign a contract after seeing a single house, another may spend weeks without finding a home that fits their needs and lifestyle.
How long it takes to locate and close on a house depends on a long list of factors, personal preferences, and conditions.
In a sign that the inventory of for-sale homes remains tight, NAHB’s quarterly Housing Trends Report* reveals that more buyers are finding their home search delayed because of a rising number of multiple offers on the same property. The survey found 30% of active buyers reported getting outbid by another buyer in the second quarter of 2020, significantly higher than the comparable 18% share a year earlier.
The top reason long-time searchers (those spending more than three months looking for a home) haven’t pulled the trigger continues to be the inability to find an affordable home (39%); however, that share is much lower than reported a year ago (50%).
Among these veteran house hunters who have been actively searching for a home for at least three months, they report they will take the following steps if the right home remains elusive in the months ahead:
51% will continue looking for the “right” home in the same preferred location;
37% will expand the search area;
21% is willing to accept a smaller/older home;
19% might buy a more expensive home; and
19% will give up on finding a home until next year or later.
What Are the Top Challenges for Today’s Sellers?
Everybody's home is different. Where one seller may spend months fixing up their home, finding a place to relocate and then get their home on the market for a fast sale, other sellers are struggling with challenges brought on by this year's Coronavirus pandemic - from working at home limiting showing ability to finding the cash flow to get their house ready for the market.
Among home sellers who have been actively thinking about moving, agents are reporting the following concerns from sellers hesitant about listing their home for sale:
Coronavirus continues to put health at risk;
Work from home and home-schooling prevents showings;
Inability to find a new place to live (low inventory);
Market uncertainty; and
Qualifying for financing on a new home due to income circumstances.
* The Housing Trends Report is a research product created by the NAHB Economics team with the goal of measuring prospective home buyers’ perceptions about the availability and affordability of homes for-sale in their markets. The HTR is produced quarterly to track changes in buyers’ perceptions over time. All data are derived from national polls of representative samples of American adults conducted for NAHB by Morning Consult. Results are not seasonally adjusted due to the short time horizon of the series and therefore only year-over-year comparisons are statistically valid. A description of the poll’s methodology and sample characteristics can be found here.
