Take a look back at 2013’s dynamic year in real estate. Low mortgage rates, all-cash buyers and bidding wars played a part in the housing market's recovery. In 2013 we saw the housing market recover a lot faster than we anticipated. It was a great year for seller and homeowners who saw their home values appreciate.
Housing Prices Rose Fast
The local average sale price was $191,683 in November 2012 and rose to $198,249 by November 2013 according to gaar.com.
Mortgage Rates
Mortgage rates remained low with a slight increase. Fixed-rate loans were as low as 3.45 percent in December 2012 and rose to 4.49 in September 2013 according to Freddie Mac. Mortgage rates are likely to stay low and perhaps even drop between now and March 2014.
Housing Inventory
Inventory at the end of November dropped and gave approximately a 6.69 mo supply. This caused the return of bidding wars to occur.
Housing Affordability Remained High
Housing Affordability has decreased slightly, but remained high. Factors such as income and a slight rise in mortgage rates affected housing affordability for 2013, but overall remained high.
Cash Buyers
About one-third of all home purchases nationwide were made with cash. This has been consistent for the past three years. Cash byers are from overseas, some are institutional investors and others are getting help from relatives to buy.
Mobile Apps Accelerated Connections Between Buyers, Sellers and REALTORS®
A recent study by Google and the National Association of REALTORS® found that 68 percent of homebuyers used a mobile app during their home search and 89 percent used a mobile search engine at the onset of the home-buying process and throughout their research. Mobile apps are making it easier for buyers and sellers to access information from their smartphones and tablets.
Rise in Rent Brought First-Time Buyers Into the Market
There was an increase of renters who wanted to buy homes. Not only are rents rising faster than home prices in many markets, but there's demand from people who don’t want to live at home with their parents and who want to buy a home.
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