JANUARY 2021 ROCKWALL REAL ESTATE MARKET UPDATE
Interest Rates
First we start with interest rates. After hitting a record low for interest rates last week, they did tick up a bit this week and interest rates average 2.79% for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage with .7% in fees and points. A 15-year mortgage is at 2.23% with .7 in fees and points.
These low interest rates continue to draw buyers to the market. No surprise there. We have 69% more buyers now than we did this same time last year.
Source: https://www.mba.org/2021-press-releases/january/mortgage-applications-increase-in-latest-mba-weekly-survey
Refinances are up 93% from last year. This means lenders are being overwhelmed with loans right now so things are starting to take longer to close than the typical 30-day period we generally expect.
So what does this mean for Rockwall real estate?
Well, as I’m sure you’ve heard, it’s a great time to be a seller.
I’m not sure how long this will last for sellers and here’s why. At some point the grace period for these mortgages in forbearance will end and some people won’t be able to afford the restructuring plan from the bank.
I don’t think you’ll see the level of foreclosures we saw in 2009 and 2010 where people owed more than their homes were worth because people now have a lot of equity in their homes due to the sharp increases in value over the last year. This will bring those folks who can’t afford the restructured mortgage to sell and cash out with their equity in hand. This will bringing more inventory to the market and soften the current demand.
So the only way to help you take advantage of the market at the moment as a seller is if you list your home in the market of the moment and here’s what that market looks like in Rockwall now.
For this local market data, I use numbers from single-family home sales in Rockwall County. These numbers are based on sales data from December.
The average sales price is at $407,475. That’s a 23% increase from just one year ago.
The number of homes for sale is at 188 homes. We are down 67% in the number of homes available to buy in Rockwall County.
Rockwall County had 241 sales in December, 32% more than last year.
Homes sold 49% faster in December than they did last year, and we averaged 40 days on the market.
Our months of inventory is down more from last month and is now at .8 months. This number tells us that based on current demand, if no new listings came on the market, it would take just about three weeks for all of the current inventory to be purchased.
We listed 161 homes in December which is 14% less than last year. So again, we have more buyers and fewer homes for them to buy and remember we have 69% more buyers in the market right now.
Our average sales price per square foot is at $151 per square foot, an 18% increase from last year.
The Takeaway
If you’re in the position where you want to sell or need to sell, now is the time to do it. When we look at data over the last 10 years, the inventory has never been lower. Your competition has never been easier.