Ali Ata: Forecast on US Housing Market

Ali Ata believes that the housing market is one of the industry’s sectors that is significantly driving its recovery from the COVID-19 crisis. The market drastically improved in August as economic concerns continued to ease for both house sellers and buyers. But the uncertainty remains as the economy faces a long and bumpy recovery in the upcoming months.

 

Housing prices rose during the first few months of lockdown. Ali Ata believes that it can increase even further because of the significant shortage of supply and heavy buyer competition.

 

As rising prices made sellers rejoice and list more homes, Ali Ata believes the buyers worried as home prices increased during the quarantine. But the record-low mortgage rates and shortage of inventory kept the US housing market healthy. Buyers are moving much faster with unusually high buyer interest, which is better than this time last year. Consumers quickly take new listings out of the market because of the heavy buyer competition. As this situation continues, housing units remain in short supply. Unsold inventory that sits at a 3.1-month supply at the current sales pace, down from a 3.9-month supply in June, signifies a strong seller’s real estate market.

 

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly slowed operations down in the real estate industry, but they quickly rebounded since June. Ali Ata believes that the desire to lock in record-low interest rates continue to drive the buyer demand.

 

The time of house listings on the market is still twelve days faster than last year. It means that homes sit on the market for much less time, despite the rising prices. But Ali Ata believes that the measured time on the market may also drop if the share of new listings continues to rise as the pressure in the seller’s market increases.