Normally, the first few months of the year are ripe with optimism. This year, though, that hasn’t been the case for the majority of real estate agents in the country.
According to the March 2021 Homesnap Confidence Index report, agents in Western and South-Eastern markets were more pessimistic about the health of their respective markets than they were in February. Agents in the Midwest, while not as pessimistic as their regional counterparts, were not optimistic either.
Interestingly, agents in the Northeast bucked the national trend, responding that they were more optimistic in March than they were at anytime since the beginning of 2021.
While agent sentiment hinges on a variety of factors, the jump in pessimism can almost certainly be attributed to the record-setting dearth of new listings nationwide. South-Eastern, Midwestern, and Western agents indicated they remain largely unsure if the lopsided market will return to normal anytime soon.
As for the Northeast optimism, despite facing the same record-low inventory levels that plague the rest of the nation, a majority of these agents pointed to the combined factors of warmer weather in their region, increased vaccine ability, and a strengthened job market as reasons to anticipate a pre-pandemic (or close to it) real estate market.
It’ll be interesting to see how things shake out in the next month or two. Will the rest of the country join the Northeast in a renewed sense of optimism? Or will we see a nationwide slip into pessimism?
As we wrote last week, we believe it’ll be the former. But here’s hoping.