For instance, inventory is lower than usual, so homes are selling quickly, according to Jennifer Dodds, a Realtor with RE/MAX Preferred Homes who works in the Cypress and Copperfield areas.
“Homes are going under contract within as little as one day on market and typically with multiple offers over asking,” she said. “This is an amazing time for someone looking to sell, but on the flip side, it can be challenging for buyers.”
Realtors are seeing increased competition among buyers as interest rates are historically low, said Jim Mulholland, broker and owner of Cy-Fair Real Estate.
“We’ve actually had a few clients reach out to us who were thinking about refinancing and because interest rates are so low, instead [they are] opting to actually upgrade,” he said. “And those people that were holding off to see what was going on with the coronavirus pandemic are now getting more enticed because of the interest rates being so low.”
Mulholland works in the Cypress area, mainly catering to master-planned communities such as Bridgeland, Towne Lake, Cypress Creek Lakes and Fairfield. Most of these neighborhoods are located in ZIP codes 77429 and 77433, which are the two most active portions of Cy-Fair when it comes to new home builds and home sales.
These two ZIP codes actually saw an increase in year-over-year homes sales this March, but Mulholland said activity slowed toward the end of March and April before picking up again in May and June. The slowdown had nothing to do with a lack of demand from local buyers but rather a lack of demand from sellers, he said.
“It seemed like the sellers were the ones that were more cautious. A lot of people didn’t want people coming into their house and were holding off on listing their house,” he said. “If you were willing and able to list your house, you were one of the few options a lot of buyers had.”
According to data from Ross & Marshall Realty, home sales overall were up by the end of March, but nearly every ZIP code in Cy-Fair saw fewer homes sold year over year in both April and May.
While data shows Cy-Fair home sales have decreased during the pandemic, homes have not stayed on the market long, and many sellers have had multiple offers to choose from—especially in the popular $250,000 price range, Mulholland said.
Mulholland said he expects the local real estate market will remain strong this summer while inventory and interest rates remain low, but it is difficult to predict what the long-term future may hold.
“I think everything’s shifted because the peak season’s typically March, April and May. I think it shifted to be May, June and—my guess is—July,” Mulholland said. “Right now, everything seems to be pointing upward, but you would think the economy would eventually have some kind of impact.”
