October 2021 Housing Report

Although the speed of home price increases has slowed, other indicators like inventory and days on market reveal a pent up demand continues to persist in the market. This means challenges for homebuyers. According to a survey from the National Association of Home Builders, in the third quarter, 66% of active homebuyers said they spent three months or more searching for a home without success.

“We were hopeful that new construction would help us alleviate inventory pressures in the year ahead,” said Elizabeth McCoy, 2021President of the Greater Fort Worth Association of REALTORS®. “However, with the supply chain issues being experienced in almost every area of construction, it remains to be seen what kind of relief will actually come.”

Inventory in Fort Worth was historically low at 1.1 months in October. The Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University cites that 6.5months of inventory represents a market in which supply and demand for homes is balanced. In addition, listings were on the market for an average of 24 days.

Typically, the fall and holiday season is slow for real estate, so big changes are not expected until late winter or early spring. Meanwhile, low mortgage rates and rising rental prices mean many buyers are persisting in their home search.

“While the higher prices made it extremely difficult for typical families to afford a home, in some cases the historically-low mortgage rates helped offset the asking price,” said Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist at the National Association of REALTORS®. “I expect more homes to hit the market as early as next year, and that additional inventory, combined with higher mortgage rates, should markedly reduce the speed of price increases.”