Brokerage

Redfin’s Glenn Kelman says what we all feel about today’s market

In a 15-part post on Twitter, Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman discusses the abject craziness of today’s pandemic and post-pandemic market. With so many contradicting indicators — inflation but low mortgage rates, low inventory but record sales, to name a few — it’s anybody’s guess what the future holds.

While inventory is down, listings aren’t. They can’t be. We can’t have record sales if we don’t have something to sell. You would think the buyers who overbid, paid an appraisal gap and moved in would regret their purchase once reality sets in. But, they don’t, according to Realtor.com:

  • Nearly three-quarters of pandemic buyers are happy with their new home and feel it better fits their family’s needs.
  • 71% of those surveyed feel like buying a new home during the pandemic was a good decision, and the majority (75%) were already looking before the onset of COVID. 
  • Nearly half (48%) did not feel rushed or pressured into their home purchase and 61% said the price of their new home was either at or under their original budget.

In the post, Glenn Kelman discusses new home building, lumber costs and permits. According to the National Association of Home Builders, rising building materials costs and low inventory have caused new home sales prices to jump 20 percent on a year-over-year basis, harming housing affordability and driving down the pace of new home sales. Sales of newly built, single-family homes fell 5.9 percent following a significant downward revision of the March estimate, to an 863,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate, according to newly released data by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau.

Take a look at what the Redfin CEO Kelman had to say:

Glenn Kelman redfin twitter feed
Glenn Kelman redfin twitter feed
Glenn Kelman redfin twitter feed
Glenn Kelman redfin twitter feed