With so much out of whack — the coronavirus, schools and universities struggling with whether and how to start classes, uncertainty surrounding college football, the beleaguered economy — housing is one of the few bright spots outside of light reflecting awkwardly off somebody's glasses in another Zoom meeting.
Oklahoma City-area home sales didn't let up in July and show no sign of slowing down heading into fall.
High demand and low supply — enough to last just 1.7 months if no other houses were listed for sale — have prices on the rise.
The median price of $214,048 was 10.2% higher than in July 2019, according to the Oklahoma City Metro Association of Realtors.
And houses are selling faster, in 30 days on average, three days faster than in July of last year, the Realtors said.
That's in Oklahoma City, Arcadia, Bethany, Blanchard, Choctaw, Deer Creek, Edmond, Harrah, Luther, Midwest City, Moore, Mustang, Newcastle, Nicoma Park, Norman, Piedmont, Tuttle, Warr Acres and Yukon.
Some more fresh stats:
The metro area had 2,432 new listings, up 15.3% compared with July 2019.
Closed sales, at 2,166, were up 7.7% year over year.
Another wall of sales is coming. Pending contracts — sales in line to close — were at 2,346, up 30.5% compared with July last year.
The situation is similar is many parts of the nation.
"Healthy buyer demand and constrained supply continue to be the story for much of the country. Nationally, showing activity in July remained substantially higher than a year before and multiple offer situations are a frequent experience in many markets. With the inventory of homes for sale still constrained, a competitive market for buyers shows little sign of waning.
"High unemployment apparently is no match for the combined power of historically low mortgage interest rates and home equity.
"Despite this significant economic impact, home buyers remain extremely resilient. With mortgage rates remaining near record-low levels and home purchase mortgage applications up from a year ago, high buyer activity is expected to continue into the late summer and early fall market," the Realtors said.
For their part, homebuilders in the area started more houses in July, 665, than any month since August 2013 and recovery from the Great Recession, according to Norman-based Dharma Inc.'s Builder Report.
That was 47.8% more than in June, and 55.7% more than in July 2019, Dharma reported.
Through July, builders took out permits to build 3,351 homes, an increase of 14.1% compared with the first seven months of 2019, according to Builder Report, which tracks construction in Oklahoma City, unincorporated Oklahoma County, Bethany, Blanchard, Choctaw, Edmond, Midwest City, Moore, Mustang, Newcastle, Noble, Norman, Shawnee and Yukon.
