More Houses on the Market? Soon-to-Be Sellers Say Yes

Ten percent of current homeowners said they plan to list their house in 2021, while an additional 16% plan to list within the next three years, hopefully adding much-needed inventory to the housing market.

Realtor.com^® found that of those who plan to list this year, 63% already have or plan to within the next six months, while 76% have begun the process of selling. The report found that  more than half of these homeowners’ properties are predicted to be listed for less than $350,000, which could be beneficial to buyers trying to break into the market, but keep getting outbid.

However, of respondents who are planning to put their home on the market in the next three years, 25% said they haven’t listed yet because they can’t find a new house to purchase that is within their price range, while another 23% said they aren’t sure where they want to move and 22% said the current economic climate has led them not to list their home quite yet. Other barriers included logistics of buying and selling simultaneously and concerns about showing their home during a pandemic.

What will lead these would-be sellers to finally list their house? More than 90% said if they could time buying and selling perfectly, they would be more likely to list. Thirty-seven percent said they would list sooner if they knew they could make a lot of money, while 33% more affordable homes on the market would encourage them to list.

“With home prices at historic highs,  now is a great time to sell a home and many first-time sellers might be surprised to learn how much equity they have,” said Rachel Stults, deputy editor for realtor.com®. “For consumers who are worried about the stress and planning involved, there are a number of resources available to help with everything–from perfectly timing buying and selling to removing the hassles of doing repairs and staging.”