I have received a lot of questions about the real estate market and what the impact will be on home prices. “Will buyers be able to get some good deals after this is all over?” they ask. I don’t have a crystal ball but what I do feel is that once the Stay In Place (SIP) orders are lifted, it will be a very busy marketplace. Why? I am seeing activity even now while we have orders in place. There will be a lot of pent up buyer and seller demand once we are able to more freely sell real estate. It is hard to predict right now what effect that will have on prices.
Current Activity
Here is what I heard at my sales meeting today. There were 12 properties sold in our office alone over the past week priced up to $3,800,000. While in some situations there were serious delays and some renegotiation, the properties closed escrow. There were 9 properties that just went into contract which are scheduled to close between April 10 and June 1. Twelve new listings were announced which ranged from $1,249,000 to $7.5M in neighborhoods all over the city.
It was agreed that there is a lot of activity in the below $2M market but the luxury buyers are out there, too; they are just looking for a deal. There were instances given of properties with 60 and 70 disclosure packages out and properties receiving multiple offers. These were typically properties that were “priced low.”
Wait to Bring Inhabited Properties on the Market
Since the SIP allows agents to show only vacant properties, there was a discussion that now may not be the best time to put an inhabited property on the market or if you do, there should be a contingency that the buyer will have an opportunity to see it within a certain amount of time from the lifting of the SIP order.
Impact by Coronavirus
This is our spring market which is normally the strongest. Due to the coronavirus, new listings coming on the market are down, offers accepted are down, withdrawn properties are up. That being said, there is still some activity as discussed above.
I still think we should stay home for the safety of our community and wait to bring properties on the market after the SIP is lifted. Once it is, it will be very busy and I look forward to assisting anyone who needs help.
