Understanding real estate market trends and conditions is not only important for Realtors® or those actively working in the real estate market, if you’re buying or selling a home in College Station or Bryan, Texas knowing the real estate trends is vital to your transaction’s success. Trends and forecasts come into play when pricing your home for sale, when negotiating a sales contract, and when determining if a home or property is a good deal or not. While your Realtor® should always provide you with access to local market data, following these trends online is a great way to stay in touch with the market to determine whether or not now is the right time for you to buy or sell.
As a local real estate expert with years of experience in the College Station homes market, it would be my pleasure to discuss these statistics and trends with you. Below you’ll find a brief recap of what happened in 2013 and some projections for 2014. If you have any questions along the way, do not hesitate to contact me, Myke Leatham, at your leisure.
College Station Real Estate Trends 2013
The College Station and Bryan, Texas real estate markets were hot in 2013 and are projected to continue to be quite active as we begin 2014. It was a dynamic year in real estate with low mortgage rates, all-cash buyers and tight inventories towards the end of the year starting bidding wars amid the housing market’s recovery. In fact, in nearly every month of 2013, more properties were sold than in the same month of the previous year in the Bryan-College Station real estate market. This accounted for more than a 24 percent increase in sales when compared to 2012.
Similar to the rest of the country, the number of new homes being placed on the market for sale was not keeping up with the pace at which homes were being sold, causing tight inventory and multiple offer situations throughout the market. This was a great advantage to sellers, particularly during the last quarter of 2013.
Projections for 2014 are quite similar to what we saw during this last quarter of 2013, with a few exceptions. Let’s take a look at what economists and real estate experts are predicting during 2014.
1. Inventory should gradually stabilize and return to traditional seasonal levels. During 2013, buyer demand ramped up and homeowners waited for further price increases and evidence of a solid economic recovery before putting their homes on the market. The year began with quite a shortage, yet as the year went on shortages began to decline slightly. However, nationally homes in 2013 sold faster than in 2012, with the median age of the inventory on hand down by 11 percent. If this is a forecast of what is to come, we should expect the inventory to gradually stabilize.
2. Homeowners are likely to return to positive equity. According to the National Association of Realtors®, rising prices helped more than 2.5 million homeowners who were previously underwater to regain positive equity status, however more than 7.1 million homes were still in a negative equity situation. The good news is that prices are expected to continue to rise in 2014, which will lift more homeowners into positive territory.
3. Mortgage rates are expected to rise. The Fed has considered tapering its bond-buying activity as the economy improves, which could lead to an increase in interest rates despite the fact that the new Chairman Janet Yellen is expected to continue policies similar to those of former Chairman Bernanke.
4. Foreclosure activity should slow. Foreclosures are likely to play a diminishing role in the 2014 real estate market, as inventory of foreclosures have dropped to multi-year lows.
To learn more about the 2013 real estate market in College Station and Bryan or to discuss what is coming down the pipeline for 2014 College Station rentals and homes for sale, please do not hesitate to contact me today. I look forward to hearing from you and to helping you navigate the real estate waters in 2014. Connect today to get started!