The Evolution of the Housing Market Nearly Two Years Into the Pandemic

After the first wave of COVID-19 struck the United States in early 2020, the number of homes for sale dropped by over 57% in a two-year period, causing prices to jump 25% from December 2019 to December 2021, according to Realtor.com. Inventory was slashed in half as sellers listed 12.9% fewer homes compared with rates from 2017 to 2019 in the midst of a pre-existing housing deficit. 

With a scarcity of available real estate, median home list prices reached a record-high of $385,000 in the summer of 2021, though a severe lack of affordability may cause prices to slow in the coming year as a rising share of buyers are priced out of the market. Overall, the housing market is moving at a much faster pace than it was before the pandemic, pushing sellers to the driver’s seat and leaving thousands of buyers behind. 

“We expect that we’ll start to see a turnaround and inventory will stabilize and start to go up a little bit in 2022,” says Realtor.com Chief Economist Danielle Hale. “But that means we’re looking at inventory levels of roughly half of what we saw before the pandemic. For buyers, the market is likely to continue to move fast. If you see a home you like, you want to jump on it right away.”

Sellers, many of whom were nervous about allowing strangers into their homes during a worldwide pandemic, listed 12.9% fewer homes compared with typical rates in 2017 through 2019, according to the report.

As a result of the real estate scarcity, prices surged to new heights.

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