U.S. home sales continue upward trend

While many activities have been interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, real estate transactions continue to buck the trend.

Pending home sales in the U.S. increased nearly 17 percent in June, according to the National Association of Realtors. Year-over-year, contract signings are up 6 percent.

This doesn’t look like an aberration, either. Between April and May, pending home sales increased at a record-setting rate. At the time, I shared some insight from Kelly House, Plus’s manager of real estate services, about what was happening in the market. I think his main takeaway is still ringing true — for those who do decide to sell right now, market conditions are favorable.

It also doesn’t hurt that mortgage rates recently hit a 50-year low. This has prompted potential buyers to move forward despite the pandemic, which in turn has benefited sellers because demand is relatively high while supply has yet to catch up.

All of this is to say that now is generally a good time to sell a home. Mobility programs that feature a corporate home sale program should be proactively working with relocating employees to help them move forward in this favorable selling environment.