Top Real Estate Trends to Expect in 2021

As 2021 begins, people involved in the real estate industry are starting to make their own predictions as to how things would behave for the entire year. For the year that was, at least, the real estate industry surprisingly picked up despite the predominantly negative impacts of COVID-19 on many industries such as tourism and consumer electronics manufacturing. Mortgage interest rates dipped to an all-time low at 2.97 percent back in June 2020, which attracted many homebuyers to take out mortgages or refinance their existing loans with their local mortgage lending company.

What are the experts saying about how the industry will behave for the current year? What do present data seem to indicate about 2021’s real estate industry behavior? These are just some of the questions that linger in people’s minds as the year rolls on and as the threat of COVID-19 still looms on the horizon.

Here are the top trends that you should expect to see for the rest of the year:
 

• Some cities will have sunnier prospects than all others. By 2021, certain cities are predicted to hit it big in the real estate category. Many of the cities in the Top 10 list are Sunbelt cities, owing to their large workforces, business-friendliness, and affordable pricing. These states include:
  
  Raleigh/Durham, N.C.
  Austin, TX
  Nashville, TN
  Dallas/Fort Worth, TX
  Charlotte, N.C.
  Tampa/St. Petersburg, FL
  Salt Lake City, UT
  Washington D.C./North VA
  Boston, MA
  Long Island, NY
   

1. Second-home markets will be in high demand across the U.S. Mickey Alam Khan, former founder and editor of American Marketer and Luxury Daily, predicts that the second home market will remain in high demand throughout 2021. This is attributed to the robust performance of the stock market and the all-time-low mortgage rates that started back in 2020. Homebuyers with money to spare are most likely to capitalize on this unique combination of perks to score a second home, particularly the ones away from the city where they can enjoy some peace and quiet.
    
2. Manhattan and other big cities across the country will eventually spring back to life. As COVID-19 vaccines start to become available and Americans get the shots needed, things will eventually get rosy once more. Big cities like Manhattan, where the prime real estate market was once huge before the pandemic, will regain robustness as city-dwellers who are doping remote work go back in droves. As the economy recovers, blue-collar workers will once more troop to offices to advance their careers and resume their office-based tasks. Ultimately, high-end real estate such as condominiums will surely start to get filled up again and increase their market value anew.
    
3. Suburban properties will remain attractive to prospective buyers and renters. Even as COVID-19 vaccines start coming into the country, many companies still require their workers to do remote work. This trend is seen to last throughout the year, which means that those already renting or living in homes located away from cities will likely stay there. Accordingly, suburban real estate properties will remain hot commodities as more people look for homes to buy or rent in relatively peaceful and safer communities.
    
4. Real estate marketing will continue to be done virtually. Last year, the trend of doing virtual house tours and live-streamed open houses became the norm instead of the exception. For 2021, it is predicted to be virtually unchanged. This means that you can expect to see real estate brokers still using social media and tech tools such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) to market the properties they are selling or leasing.
    
5. Buying homes will be tough. With the increasing demand for residential properties, 2021’s homebuyer market is seen to become as competitive as ever. As mortgage rates continue to dip and as landlords make their rental properties more attractive by lowering the rent or including services, getting your dream home or securing a rental property slot will require some tactics. Among other things, it might require you to do some detective work to find the lowest interest rate or secure a property that is priced well below the prevailing market price tag.
    
6. Home prices and turnover rates will remain on the rise. For sellers, 2021 will be a good year as experts predict the median home price tag to increase up to six percent. Meanwhile, the turnover rate is predicted to keep its ascent as several buyers lining up for every listed property. These predictions only point to a predominantly vibrant real estate industry for the rest of the year.

With the majority of the predicted trends for 2021 on the positive side, there’s truly a lot of reasons to be optimistic about especially for home buyers, sellers, brokers, and mortgage companies across the U.S.