How’s The Market? A Look at January’s Real Estate Numbers

The intense seller’s market we saw in the closing months of 2020 continued in January. Up 13.3% from last year, the Median Sales Price hit $460,000 in January – matching the all-time high we saw in October. Even in a strong market, prices in January are typically lower than the height of the previous year and are the lowest point of the year to come. This does not bode well for buyers in the local housing market as we’ve already seen prices climb almost 50% in the last five years.

The number of homes that sold in January dropped by over a third from December, reflecting the record low inventory we saw that month. New listings increased almost 50% from December, which helped bring inventory up a bit in January to 1.0 months. We desperately need more inventory, but this increase is still far too small to absorb all the buyers currently in the market. Anecdotally, the first few weeks of February have seen a lot of activity and very little inventory. This combination will continue to push prices higher as we head into the busiest months of the year for real estate, resulting in some buyers being priced out of the market.