Ryan Haley Presents October 2020 Market Report

Posted by Ryan Haley on Tuesday, October 27, 2020 at 11:50 AM By Ryan Haley / October 27, 2020 Comment

Ryan Haley, Broker and Owner of Atlantic Shores Sotheby's International Realty, provides his insights on the prevailing real estate market trends in Worcester County, the Delaware Beaches, and the country as a whole.

Throughout the COVID-19 months, the real estate industry has been one of the most successful industries. This situation is expected to continue in Ocean City, Worcester County, and the Delaware Beaches.

Worcester County

Worcester County, which covers Ocean City, Ocean Pines, Berlin, and Bishopville, continues to experience low inventory and strong demand.

In September, new listings increased by 27.4% over 2019 as 344 new listings came into the market. This is good news as more listings are hitting the market, but new listings are being overtaken by Pending (Under Contract) transactions, with 354 properties going under contract in September, which is a 63.1% increase over last year.

Closed Sales in September were at 324, representing an increase of 42.1% from September 2019. It brings the year-to-date total to 2,161 properties sold which is a 15% increase from last year.

As inventory remains low and demand continues to stay strong, prices are expected to rise.

The current median price in Worcester County is at 294,250, up by 11.9% over the previous year.

Delaware Market

The Delaware market is also seeing pending sales outpacing new listings. September pending sales increased 57% over last year, while new listings are up 35% from the previous year. Closed sales in September rose by 48% compared to last year, while year-to-date sales jumped by 16.8% over the same period in 2019.

Prices in Delaware are up by 19.1%, with median sales price pegged at $339,500, compared to last year’s median price of $285,000.

National Market

While there is a lack of inventory in the resale market, there is also a lack of new homes. This has been foreseen, and builders were slow to adapt.

The good news is that builder confidence is now at its highest level ever as they see demand for new homes to be high.

Inventory level in the national market continues to decline, which means that price appreciation will also continue.

Mark Fleming, chief economist at First American believes that rapid house price appreciation will persist until the supply-and-demand imbalance begins to improve.