Join us as we take a quick look back before moving into what’s to come in 2022. Throughout the year, we experienced incredibly fast turn-around times from market to sold status. In fact, on average, over 80% of homes were selling in less than 30 days. Starter homes became as much a challenge to find as getting an offer to purchase accepted was! Buyers wrote love letters to accompany their purchase offers, offered higher price levels, hoping to sway sellers to accept their bid over the competition.
Home sellers saw some of the greatest equity gains in some of the shortest time frames, thanks mainly to a mix of high buyer demand and inventory levels that never quite made it past the 2-3 months mark.
Specifically in the Colorado front range real estate marketplace, December 2021 saw 3220 homes available with 5402 selling and closing by the end of the month. These homes sold in an average of 27 Days on Market, at an average sale price of $650,548. It may not seem fair to compare those statistics to December 2020, which saw homes close within 33 Days on Market, at an average sale price of $543,355, considering the pandemic was in full play for most of that year. However, a close look at the numbers reveals that although Covid-19 affected almost every area of life, the real estate market stood strong and steady.
Turning our sights to the New Year full of hopeful possibilities, we see several trends emerging. Mortgage interest rates remain a major player in dictating the direction the 2022 market will take. Early indicators are that demand will remain strong, and equity gains, though slowing their pace, will continue upwards. How proposed mortgage interest rate increases will inform those trends, we will have to wait and see.
We predict that the criteria that drive the constant adage; “location, location, location” is seeing significant changes that will come into sharper focus as the year progresses. While work-from-home hasn’t become the constant norm as yet for the majority of the working population, the buying decisions are showing definite signs of moving away from the standards of "proximity to work and family" and more toward less dense, more open outdoor space living conditions.
The same appears to be true for the features most desired by buyers in the marketplace as well. Priorities are shifting; and even though bath and kitchen areas remain #1 and #2 concerns on the list, what they want from those rooms is different. We don’t just want a larger bathroom, we want a bathroom decked out like a spa, that makes us feel pampered. We aren’t just looking for kitchens with high functionality, we also want kitchens that don’t cut us off from the rest of the life happening in the home.
Home office accommodations have squeezed out finished basements and formal dining rooms, taking the #3 spot on most want lists. As you contemplate the sale of a home or the purchase of one, you’ll want to give close attention to lifestyle changes you may have already or may be experiencing. Those changes will affect your Need/Want list for buying. For the seller, it should affect your marketing action decisions. For either buying or selling, preparation should begin with a frank discussion with your local RE/MAX Alliance associate to make the best-informed decisions.
As changes continue to take shape, we’ll keep you updated on all the 2022 real estate market particulars that affect all of us as we move about our daily lives.