The Real Estate in Maine
2021 It was yet another year of record sales in real estate across the country and certainly in our corner of the world. For those espousing an "inventory crisis," you are correct. By definition, an inventory crisis is a critical shortage of supply of a product relative to the number of buyers seeking it. But this crisis is not because there have been fewer homes listed or sold here. In fact, in the high-end market, there were more homes sold in 2021 than in 2020, and more than twice as many this past year than in a 2019 pre-Covid market:
We cannot, however, keep up with the number of buyers seeking to invest in Maine property, especially in seaside towns. This is not a temporary phenomenon to escape a virus. Significant purchases have been transacted based on educated, researched, and planned decisions to work remotely, live coastally, and improve quality of life. In fact, in 2021 as Covid numbers declined, sales in Maine increased. As the Omicron virus numbers increase, we are not seeing a stall in the market as in 2020. Financial advisors and investors continue to believe the secular bull market is alive and well, and there are no signs on the horizon of it changing anytime soon.
Historical interest rates below 3% have offered buyers a clear offset to higher home prices, and even the projected modest rate increases pose an opportunity to afford more over a 30-year mortgage than ever before.
- If you are thinking about buying, the only thing worse than not buying last year is not buying this year.
- If you are selling, there has never been a better market to sell your home.
- If you are buying and selling in the same market, it's never a disadvantage, especially if it accomplishes long-term goals.
I am a firm believer that when you focus on location, quality, and value in real estate, you rarely go wrong.
