What is a Housing Recession and Are We In One?

Declining Home Sales

A housing recession is defined by the National Association of Realtors as six straight months of declining home sales. On a national level, this is the case: America is in a Housing Recession. According to a recent article of Forbes.com, the main factors are increasing mortgage interest rates (leading to higher mortgage payments) and high construction costs.

But what about our local housing market?

Our local Lynchburg market has actually seen an increase in total closed sales over the past six months! What we are seeing, however, is the number of homes going under contract each month starting to decrease. That means that the future of sold homes will decrease as well.

What does this housing recession mean for me?

If you’re purchasing a home:

You can generally expect less competition when you buy. We are seeing fewer bidding wars and buyers are having more time to make a decision. Buyers are in some cases even able to negotioate again!

If you’re selling a home:

You can generally expect that your home may not sell in 24 hours with 5 hours! However, homes are still selling, and at good prices. The window may be closing slightly to sell for top dollar, but it’s still cracked open at the moment!

If you, a friend or neighbor are thinking about making a real estate move and are looking for more information and advice, give us a call! We love talking real estate with our clients or prospective clients. We have over 10+ years in the real estate business and know the local Lynchburg area very well. Check out all of our 5 star reviews on Google or Zillow for both Matt Durand and Barbara Terzakos!

To view our previous blog post on why there are so few homes for sale, check it out here!