The COVID-19 pandemic sent bad waves throughout the real-estate market. But does that make now a perfect time to put in an offer on a property or even sell your property?
The answer will mainly depend on what you plan to do with the home, particularly if you’re an investor.
“It’s a good time to buy an investment property if you can find inventory at a good price,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president of market economics at real-estate website Auction.com.
When the nation began to tell people to stay at home across the country, it uplifted the home-buying process by far. Companies that have a specialty in buying and selling homes for a profit have put a temporary pause on operations and allegations, and real-estate agents had to innovate, moving toward virtual open houses and having to have meeting on zoom or different virtual video apps. Also remote closings to adhere to social-distancing protocols. With the backlash of these changes, and the rise in unemployment — sellers bid by pulling their listings. New listings were down more than 40% in April compared with last year, according to data from Realtor.com. That means there were roughly 190,000 fewer homes on the market last month than during the same period in 2019. Also new-home construction slowed in April as many builders became worried about the state of the housing industry during and after the pandemic. Before the coronavirus crisis began, economists had warned that the U.S. housing market was hungry for supply. Years of slow home-building activity in the beginning of the financial crisis has meant that the number of homes for sale was falling well short of demand.
Another factor making it harder for people to score a deal on an investment property: The lack of foreclosures.
Another factor making it harder for people to score a deal on an investment property: The lack of foreclosures, due to foreclosure moratoriums. “We’re seeing many investors who primarily acquired at the courthouse foreclosure auction migrate to buy bank-owned (REO) homes via online auction, which also provides the added benefit of allowing them to buy with no in-person interaction,” Blomquist said. The added competition for these homes could drive up the prices.
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