SEPTEMBER 2021 ROCKWALL HOMEOWNER REPORT
We will start with interest rates.
They’ve stayed flat and they’ve been that way for a while. We’re still under 3% and we’re currently averaging 2.87% with .6% in fees and points for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage. The growth of the economy and inflation has stabilized a little, providing some comfort for investors in the markets.
As far as the number of buyers in the market, the number of mortgage applications fell to its lowest level since mid-July and the unadjusted purchase index for buyers is 18% lower than the same week one year ago.
So let’s dig into the data for August and see how the 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 August.
The average sales price is at $458,144. That’s a 23.1% increase from one year ago.
The number of homes for sale is at 296 homes. We are down 31.3% in the number of homes available to buy in Rockwall County.
Rockwall County had 241 sales in August, a 27% decrease over last year.
Homes sold 69% faster in August than they did last year, and we averaged just 15 days on the market.
Our months of inventory stayed flat from last month and we’re still at 1.3 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 listed 274 homes in August which is .7% less than last year.
Our average sales price per square foot went up from last month and is at $172 per square foot, a 26.5% increase from last year.
I’m adding a little more to this update because at the beginning of the video I questioned if the real estate market was possibly getting back to a normal market. I mean, first can we really say what’s normal? But I would say a market in which homes are on the market for 2-3 weeks and you have moderate pricing increases year over year (roughly 5%) would be more of a normal market to me.
When we look at the stats of SALES in August, we’re showing that we’re nowhere close to a normal market. And I can tell you from the chatter in the office, there’s still a lot of demand. But one thing we are seeing more and more is buyers who are getting cold feet and aren’t willing to give away the farm and expect nothing in return. Meaning, they want sellers to make repairs when they’ve come in with strong offers. Buyers aren’t freely giving so much for leasebacks. Buyers are growing more and more weary with each passing month and I get it.
And like last month, I want to see where the market is going. I’m comparing the time on market for active listings to listings that are pending sale. Since solds tell us what happened about 30-45 days ago, looking at the properties that have gone under contract most recently help us see more current trends.
Okay, we’re currently trending an average of 52 days on the market for active listings in Rockwall County. For sales that are pending sale but haven’t closed, the average days on market is 25 days before going under contract. And keep in mind for August the average days on market before going under contract was 15 days. This tells me we are going up a little bit. Now this is still amazing for sellers but we heading in the right direction for me to get that sense of normalcy I’m looking for.
What’s also important to note is the average sales price to list price is down for the second month in a row. In May we hit our peak of the average sale being 4.2% over the list price. Now it’s at 1.8% over list price. This also gives me a lot of hope!
The Takeaway
I think I’ve said this for 18-straight months now… It’s a great time to be a seller. We’re still painfully low on inventory. Expect to get offers closer to your asking price as we have fewer buyers in the market and extreme buyer fatigue.