In general, I have moved away from market updates when it comes to my real estate blog. We are moving those updates over to the brokerage. If you’d like to receive both, sign up on Teton Valley Realty’s website. I’ll always include the latest blog post. I want to try to keep all of the content for these posts relevant for as long as possible, and markets can change on a moment’s notice. This market update will definitely go down in the history books, so I think it’s appropriate.
The real estate market has remained surprisingly active. I seem to be working harder than ever – you know, when the going gets tough… as they say. I am doing a TON of videos and virtual tours, and surprisingly, have found pretty good success with “sight unseen” contracts. It definitely feels like the younger generation buyers have slowed and taken the issue with a little more concern. On the flip side, older generation buyers have ramped up with an increase in contacts, showings and contracts. I might be making this up, but to some degree, it makes sense. Younger generation buyers probably have more of our local tourism-related jobs, which have been hardest hit. The past several years of expansion have been great for almost everyone, but it would seem that the younger crowd probably hasn’t had as many opportunities to capitalize as those taking advantage of expanding markets and real estate values. On an interesting side note, the younger generation also seems to have a greater level of concern with respect to social distancing and being very careful about guidelines. This seems to contradict what we are hearing in the National news about younger people getting back to everyday life, or ignoring recommendations.
If you know me, I stay away from predictions. If I do make them, they are information-based, and never definitive. That being said, I’m going to guess we are going to see a continuous stream of people hoping to move away from populated areas and into rural America. If it were me, this is the first place I would look. I have read National Real Estate resource predictions of home values dropping 2-4% if things get back to “normal” soon, and 5-6% if things move slower in terms of recovery. I predict that it is less likely that rural areas will see contraction, but if they do, it will be further down the road – probably months after urban areas see an impact.
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