Is The Collin County Housing Market Correcting?

The news headlines are scary, interest rates are rising, and with a recession looming it’s no wonder home buyers are putting a pause on their home search. But what if we told you the Collin County real estate market isn’t about to crash? Rather, the housing market is simply returning to a pre-pandemic state, and here’s why we think that - 

According to Keeping Current Matters, “The housing market is moderating compared to the last two years, but what everyone needs to remember is that the past two years were record-breaking in nearly every way”. We saw record-low mortgage rates and millennials began entering the market which led to an influx of buyer demand. At the same time, there weren’t enough homes available to purchase thanks to many years of underbuilding and sellers who held off listing their homes due to the pandemic. The combination of the two lead to record-high demand and record-low supply which isn’t sustainable for the long term. 

It’s important to not compare today to the abnormal pandemic years, but to the most recent normal year to show the current housing market is still strong. The latest data shows early signs of a shift back to the market pace seen in the years leading up to the pandemic - not a crash or correction.

The ShowingTime Showing Index, which tracks the traffic of home showings according to agents and brokers, is a good indicator of buyer demand. Here’s a look at that data going back to 2019. 

The 2019 numbers give a good baseline of pre-pandemic demand. As the graph indicates, home showings skyrocketed during the pandemic. And while current buyer interest seems to be slowing down based on the latest data, we’re still seeing more showings than in 2019. Considering 2019 was such a strong year for the housing market, this helps show that the market isn’t crashing, it’s just adjusting back towards more pre-pandemic levels.

While you may see worrisome headlines about how existing home sales are declining, just remember that perspective matters. Here’s a look at existing home sales going all the way back to 2019 using data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) -

Again, we see a correlation in the data. The pandemic numbers are much higher than the more typical year of 2019 home sales. And according to the latest projections for 2022, the market is on pace to close this year with more home sales than in 2019 as well.

Don’t let news headlines get you down! The North Texas real estate market is not going to experience a crash or a correction. It’s just returning to more typical, pre-pandemic levels. Reach out to us if you have any questions about the Collin County real estate market and what it means for you when you buy or sell this year!