The housing market came roaring back in June, as low mortgage rates and increased economic activity helped push sales of previously owned homes up 20.7% from the prior month.

Demand was strong from apartment renters seeking more space, young families moving to the suburbs and wealthy city dwellers looking for second homes, brokers and economists say. At the same time, the supply of houses for sale remained low, as the pandemic has made potential sellers cautious about letting people tour their homes.

Existing-home sales rose in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.72 million, the biggest monthly increase in records going back to 1968, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday. The June sales marked a 11.3% decrease from a year earlier.

The median existing-home price rose 3.5% from a year earlier to $295,300, NAR said. There were 1.57 million homes for sale at the end of June, up 1.3% from May and down 18.2% from June 2019. At the current sales pace, there was a 4.0-month supply of homes on the market at the end of June.

Existing-home sales rose the most month-over-month in the West, at 31.9%, and in the South, at 26%, according to the NAR data.

Source: U.S. Existing-Home Sales Rose 20.7% in June

Meanwhile, we’re a part of those strong sales numbers here in Mohave County. Every day brings more sales, and we truly haven’t seen this much activity since the heady days of 2005-2007.

Land sales are greatly improved, and there finally is some upward pressure on land prices here in the Yucca area, but still too many properties that were purchased as tax liens, or inherited & where the owner doesn’t care about price, and just wants a fast sale.

What’s most encouraging to me is the interest from agents outside of the area, who have been mostly missing for years. The bad news is that many from outside of the area list out here with only a picture of a map and sketchy, missing, or incorrect data. It hurts the market as sellers become desperate over time, and are more inclined to accept fire sale prices. It seems unfair that poor service that hurts our market and sellers can be allowed, but such is the market today.