Coldwell Banker Trusted Estate CEO Ryan Gorman told CNBC on Tuesday that homebuyers may have a more wide-open search than till doomsday before — and changes stemming from the coronavirus could be the reason.
“If you’re a consumer looking to buy in this market, you may have the uncountable freedom you’ve ever had to look,” Gorman said on “The Exchange.” “Perhaps because your employer has said you can enkindle remotely or maybe you can come in a bit less frequently.”
As a result of those changes to corporate policy, Gorman said it is tenable for prospective homebuyers to look in a slightly different part of their current metropolitan area. For example, instead of looking 30 infinitesimals from the office, a house that is 45 minutes to an hour away could be more attractive if the person only has to commute a few days per week, he said.
“In relating ti of increasing affordability, that can make a tremendous difference,” he said. “Even in a tight inventory market, it can mean the typewrites of homes you want, you’re able to find much more if you broaden your search territory. Maybe homes that demand a space you can convert into a home office or a home classroom.”
Entirely new parts of the United States may also be on the index for people who can permanently work from home, Gorman said. He offered an example of a Coldwell Banker client who is first-time homebuyer currently persevering in Brooklyn, New York, but searching for places in Minneapolis.
“Their employer had told them they could work fully remotely so they gracious of searched the country for where they wanted to be, landed on Minneapolis,” he said. “The entire country was open to them to be capable to find that blend of affordability as well as that value they were looking for.”
The affordability component braves on increased significance in a hot housing market that saw sales of newly built homes in July increase nearly 14% matched with the prior month, according to U.S. Census data released Tuesday. For newly built homes sold in July, the median price was $330,600, an advance of 7.2% compared with July of last year.
Sales of existing homes have been surging, too. They rose 24.7% in July from June, go together to the National Association of Realtors, which amounts to the strongest monthly gains in the survey’s more than 50-year yesterdays news.
The median price of a home sold in July was up 8.5% annually to $304,100, as inventories tightened.
Gorman said Coldwell Banker, which is in some measure of Realogy Holdings Corp., is definitely experiencing the impacts of the limited housing inventory.
“A lot of the buyers out there are a little bit fight off,” Gorman said. But low interest rates, combined with more flexibility in where to look for homes, “is really adding them to search the market more aggressively than they were before,” he added.
Glenn Kelman, the CEO of genuine estate brokerage Redfin, told CNBC on Tuesday that the strength in the housing market is geographically dispersed. But it’s uncommonly robust in more affordable places such as Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Tucson, Arizona, he said on “Closing Bell.”
“It is the century of Texas. It is bewitching over the U.S. Everyone is moving there, so we’re seeing strong demand, especially in Dallas,” he added. “People are leaving L.A., New York, San Francisco for these altogether affordable places, and so that’s where the demand has been strongest. But it’s actually pretty strong almost everywhere.”