How is the San Diego Real Estate Market in April 2021? It's CRAZY. Kyle Whissel compares leading market statistics from March 2020 (when COVID shut San Diego down) to final numbers in March 2021 and was honestly surprised. The April 2021 housing market is busier than expected and we have LESS homes for sale than last year! What does this mean if you are looking to buy a home or sell a home in April 2021 in San Diego? Kyle Whissel goes over the stats and explains it all!
What's going on in the San Diego real estate market in April of 2021?
Hey guys, it's Kyle with the Whissel Realty group and we are going to talk about what's going on in the San Diego real estate market here in 2021. Now, this is the first one of these updates we've done where we're actually going to compare year-over-year data to a month that was actually COVID affected, right? We're looking at everything that happened in March.
Well, let's look at March a year ago. That was when COVID hit. Well, when COVID hit, everything shut down, right? I mean, there was not much happening. Most everybody was doing what they were supposed to, quarantining from home and going on quests to try to find toilet paper. Like, that's where we were a year ago. So, I'm finding the data when I start to share some of these numbers really, really intriguing to me because what we were seeing at this time a year ago is there's just not much happening in the real estate market. Everybody was kind of taking a step back and just waiting to see what's going on. Right? I mean, at one point they told us, Oh quarantine 14 days, we're going to flatten the curve and everything will be back to normal. Well, obviously that's not been the case. So I think at that point there was just a pause button that was hit last March. So, let's get into these numbers and I want to just kind of share why these are so intriguing to me.
First and foremost, we always look at the leading indicators. We look at what's happening in the market today. Not the same stuff the media reports, which is what happened two, three, four months ago. They're always talking about what's actually sold. I don't want to talk about what's sold because what's sold in March actually went into escrow back in December or January. So we don't want to talk about that. Let's talk about what's actually happening.
First thing we always look at is the number of new listings that have come onto the market for sale. So, naturally, we would expect if we look at March a year ago there wasn't a whole lot happening, right? There was a pause button. There weren't a lot of homes coming onto the market. So what you would expect in that same time period in 2021, there should be a lot more listings hitting the market. False. We actually saw a decrease of 6.6%.
So, surprisingly there was actually less homes that went on the market last month of 2021 versus that same month a year ago.
Very surprising. I would not have expected that at all. I would have expected a pretty decent jump in new listings. So, that just goes to show how low the number of homes for sale is. And we'll talk about some of the data behind that as we dive further into this video.
The second thing we like to look at is the number of pending listings, or the number of homes that have had an offer accepted on that. Now this one, logically, is up, right? It should be up because nobody was buying anything a year ago, people are buying like crazy right now. That number is up 52.8%. So, we've got substantially less homes hitting the market, substantially more homes going off the market.
So, what's happening is that is just constricting the supply of homes for sale in a way I've never seen before. I've done this for over 20 years now, here in San Diego, born and raised. I have never seen inventory shrink 66.7% in a year. That's massive.
There are very, very few homes for sale, um, to the point that the number of days it takes for a home to sell that's down 24.1%. It is a crazy, crazy market. There are not a lot of homes for sale. So what does this mean? I mean, that's the important part. That's all the data and that's fun and everything, but what does it mean?
Thinking About Buying a Home in San Diego in April 2021?
So first, if you are looking at buying a home here in San Diego, what that means is that there's not a lot of choices out there. It is very, very competitive. It is not uncommon to see a home, get multiple offers the first day on the market. You know, in traditional market we're seeing homes take two to three months to sell. And we're seeing a lot of homes selling in two to three days. Luxury homes maybe two to three weeks. So things are moving substantially faster than normal. So a couple of things, if you're thinking about buying, first and foremost is you've got to have your financing in place. This is not the market where you go find the home first and then figure out the financing second. That is not going to fly in 2021. You've got to have that financing nailed down. And there's some unique financing opportunities we have where, if you're a 5% down buyer, we actually have a really cool product where we can turn you into a cash buyer that can close in eight days and make you much more competitive with those other buyers out there that are doing financing.
So, if you are thinking about buying the good thing is, yes, it's going to be competitive. Yes, it's going to be tough to get something, but you're buying in the path of appreciation. I believe, and we'll see this as time goes on, but I believe we're seeing appreciation right now at about 2% per month. So think about that. If you're buying a million dollar home today, a month from now that home's a million 20. Another month from now it's a million 40 something thousand. Another month from now it's a million 60 something thousand. That's the kind of appreciation that we're seeing right now in this market. So, when you're out there, it's competitive. You're like, Oh, I don't know if I want to offer that much. That seems like a lot. It seems like a lot. I have a feeling six months from now you're going to look back and laugh at what you thought was too much money. So that's what I've got to say if you're thinking about buying. It's competitive. Don't be afraid to be aggressive. You're buying in the path of an appreciating market.
Thinking About Selling a Home in San Diego in April 2021?
Well, what if you're thinking of selling? Well, there are two different boats. We're here in California. A lot of you are leaving California right now. Maybe the prices are too high. Maybe you don't like the political climate. I know you don't hate the weather cause we got the best weather in the world. So, if you're thinking about selling, if you're leaving the state, couldn't be a better scenario, right? There are buyers just fighting for properties right now. Like we talked about, multiple offers. We're seeing things constantly going over full price right now. So, fantastic time for you to cash in on all of that equity that you've built up and now go relocate to wherever it is you want to go. A different political climate, better cost of living. Knock yourself out. Fantastic time for you to sell. And if you're also, if you're thinking about selling and you're making a move up. Ready, it's time. I don't want that condo anymore. I don't want that small house. I'm ready for the bigger house. It's a great time for that too because where we're seeing the majority of the competition is on the lower price points.
The higher the price point goes, the less competition that there is. So, it's also a really good time to make that move up because, when you sell your home, you're going to have people fighting over it. And now when you step up to that next level there's not as much competition up there. So, it might open up some more options. So, sell high and buy medium-high. I'm not going to tell you're not going to buy high, right? You're paying a high price now. It's still going to be somewhat competitive just a little less competitive as you go up in price. So, that's where you're at.
If you're thinking of buying, if you're thinking of selling, we would really be honored for the opportunity to help make that happen for you. Feel free to reach out to us 618-7997. You can call or text us on that number. We'd love the opportunity to help you and your family buy or sell here in San Diego. I'm Kyle Whissel with Whissel Realty group.
