Chic vs. Geek: Macroeconomics

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Real estate economists are reading the tea leaves from the first half of 2021 to predict what the housing market will look like for the rest of the year and into 2022. What are they finding?

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CHIC (PEARL)

Based on early returns from 2021, national real estate economists are predicting a surge in supply from new home construction, the winding down of mortgage forbearance due to COVID-19, and a higher level of consumer confidence thanks to widespread vaccinations.

GEEK (KEVIN)

Higher home prices and higher mortgage rates will also create less demand. That means properties will remain on the market longer, leading to less hurried decisions for homebuyers. Meanwhile, rental prices will slowly increase with inflation. (More in Number Talk later this week!)

Geek's Number Talk: San Mateo County Market Snapshot

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You can probably feel it in the warm pre-summer breeze, but the housing market continues to heat up around the Bay Area, and particularly in San Mateo County. Sales volume and median prices are well above the pandemic market of a year ago, and properties are on the market two days less on average!

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Geek's Number Talk: Size Matters (Redux)

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With more people working and educating their kids from home, it probably shouldn’t come as a big surprise that bigger homes are trending. As you’ll find from this graph, Santa Clara County saw a huge spike in sales by square footage in Q3 2020. We’ll see if things shrink back to normal in 2021.