Aaron Layman has never seen a more competitive housing market.
Layman, a real estate broker and housing analyst based in Denton County, Texas, said homes for sale in the Dallas-Fort Worth area are selling in about six days on average, compared to the typical 45-day average. A rush of speculators has flooded the market with all-cash offers and whittled inventory down to about 15% of typical levels. And modest, single-family homes are going for 20% more than their listing price in a matter of hours.
“It’s just crazy. Houses will get listed on Thursday and they’ll be looking at 20 offers by Sunday evening,” Layman said in an interview.
Those same conditions are playing out in housing markets across the U.S. as historically low mortgage rates, shifting work conditions and more than a year of pent-up savings have created an extreme imbalance between supply and demand. U.S. home values hit an all-time high in April and posted the biggest annual jump — 11.6% — since 2005, according to Zillow, an online real estate marketplace.
