LANCASTER — For those looking to sell their home, 2022 will probably be a good time to do so. For those looking to buy, not so much.
That was the trend in 2021 and those in real estate expect that to continue as real estate professionals expect housing prices to remain high.
“That’s really what I’m seeing,” Better Homes and Gardens agent Allan Anderson said. “The feeling, the sense and the numbers that are out there, it still looks very promising.”
The flip side is those buying a property will pay more for it, no doubt.
Allan said 820 residential properties on the Multiple Listing Service had changed hands with the properties on the market for an average of 19 days in the Lancaster zip code area the past year. The average list price was $215,000 with properties selling for an average of $219,000.
Anderson said the 820 properties do not include those not on the MLS.
In 2019 there were 844 properties on the market in the same time period that spend about 35 days on the market. The average list price was around $171,000 with the sale price around $169,000 then.
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“Those numbers are just insane,” Anderson said.
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Furthermore, he said there were only 32 residential properties in mid-December on the market in the $45,000 to $649,000 range, meaning inventory is tight.
Anderson said those numbers don’t appear to be changing going into 2022.
“I know for buyers they’re still going to be chasing hard and fast,” he said. “With the supply and demand and Basic 101 economics, I think we’re still in that doggone cycle.”
Anderson said the rising costs of building and buying land will help keep real estate prices healthy.
Jeremy Mills agrees with Anderson on 2022 being a good year for sellers. Mills owns the Rising Lodging and Rise Land Co. divisions of Rise Realty.
“For the real estate market it takes a while for things to transition,” he said. “I don’t see a shift in the market yet for a minimum of at least another year. This past summer we just came out of COVID. We go into the winter months and we go into slower times. We come out of winter months and should start picking up a little bit more.”
Mills said he does not expect the inventory shortage to ease much in 2020. Therefore, he said buyers may lose whatever profits they made when selling their home when buying a new one.
While sellers are happy, buyers are not always happy because they are no doubt paying more than normal for a property.
“They’re on pins and needles because they know they’re playing with cash money,” Mills said. “They’re frustrated. They’re just kind of exhausted. There’s just not a lot of inventory to look at. And they’re kind of mind blown when they go to put a solid offer in and still get beat out. So it’s the complete opposite. A lot of excitement on one side and a lot of frustration on the other side.”
jbarron@gannett.com
740-304-9296
Twitter: @JeffDBarron
