The 2021 was an explosive year for home sales in the United States, and this volume of sales in turn led to real estate prices soaring like. never before in a long time. The statistics speak of a .9% more than in 2020, the highest percentage seen since 1999.
This data is provided by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), which speaks of home sales in 2021 as the strongest year since 2006. The average price of this 2021 per dwelling was $346,1999. There is talk of a total of 6.2 million houses sold throughout the country.
In 2020 8.5% more houses were sold than the previous year. This boom was positive for homeowners as they increased the value of their property and accumulated $32,200 dollars in “real estate wealth”.
However, the inventory of homes for sale decreased. At the end of 2020 there were fewer homes for sale than before and there was even talk of a record low.
For example, the inventory of existing homes, including single-family houses, cooperatives, annexes, only in December fell by 4.6% compared to the month of November. And if we compare it with 2020, we are talking about a drop of 7.1%.
But according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the decline in sales that occurred at the end of the year 2020, was due more than anything to a “limitation of supply” and not to lack of demand.
This low inventory has also caused prices to fall. Homes valued at a price range between $100,000 to $250,000 dollars, lowered its price by 23% only in the month of December, compared to the same period of 2020.
On the other hand, dwellings above $750,000 dollars increased their sales by 32% according to NAR. It is expected that by the spring of 2022, the houses for sale will increase in volume.
Now, the expectations for 2022 is that although housing prices will continue to grow, this should happen moderately, that is, between 3% and 5%. And let it continue like this, in moderate growth in 2023.
Work is already underway to increase supply in 2022 and reverse the gaps seen so far, says the Association of Real Estate Agents. However, an increase in mortgage interest rates is expected for the 2022, for this reason it is also thought that there was a significant increase in December of 2021.
Continue reading: The forecasts of the purchase and sale of houses for 2022: how likely is a crisis