NOVEMBER 2021 ROCKWALL HOMEOWNER REPORT

We will start with interest rates.

We have now seen four consistent weeks of the average interest rate for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage to be over 3%. At the time of recording this video they’re at 3.09% with .7% in fees and points. Freddie Mac predicts future increases as a result of stronger economic data and as the FED pulls back on its stimulus. When you also consider the fact that rates tend to go up as inflation goes up, I think we have a lot of signs pointing to possible rate increases in our near future. This should definitely temper the demand.

As far as the number of buyers in the market, we’re continuing to see decreases in mortgage applications. It’s 9% lower than it was this same time one year ago. 

So let’s dig into the sales data for October and see how the local market performed.

For this local market data, I use numbers from single-family home sales in Rockwall County. These numbers are based on sales data from October.

The average sales price is at $437,424.  That’s only a 7.7% increase from one year ago. It’s crazy that I say it’s “only” a 7.7% increase because normally, that is pretty substantial. I mean, typical appreciation should be 4-5% year-over-year. Also, I can’t even remember the last time we had a single-digit year-over-year increase. What’s also important to point out is that we just had a drop in the average sales price. This is the first time we’ve seen a decrease month-over-month since March.

The number of homes for sale is at 307 homes. We are down 18.1% in the number of homes available to buy from last year. I don’t like seeing this since we need more inventory.

Rockwall County had 200 sales in September, a 17.7% decrease over last year.

The time it takes for a home to go under contract is slowing down. This is huge to note for anyone considering a sale. Sellers have been getting very aggressive with their pricing and buyers are being more picky about price. Homes sold 35.7% slower in October than they did last year, and we averaged 27 days on the market. The time on market has been on the rise for the last two months.

Our months of inventory is at 1.4 months of inventory. This number tells us that based on current demand, if no new listings came on the market, it would take a little over a month for all the current inventory to be purchased. We really need to see this number increase to help get us into more “normal market” territory.

We listed 235 homes in September which is .8% less than last year.

Our average sales price per square foot went down from last month and is at $172 per square foot, a 20.3% increase from last year.

The Takeaway

Is the market cooling off? Let’s look at the facts: We have rising interest rates, more time on the market before homes go under contract, a decrease in the average sales price, a decrease in the average price per square foot, and fewer buyers. I’d say it’s cooling off a little. Only little because our inventory is still really low.