“Even as the impacts of COVID-19 continue to make life difficult throughout the United States, it has yet to put a significant dent in Americans’ willingness to buy homes,” said Neal Hanks, Jr., president of Beverly-Hanks.

Houses for sale, which were already in short supply before the pandemic, are now insufficient to meet current demand. At the end of quarter one, there were 3,038 residential properties on the market. As of July 1, the number of homes for sale dropped to 2,838. That figure represents 33 percent fewer homes for sale than this time last year.

“We expect demand to remain high [in the second half of the year] for two very important reasons,” said Hanks. “Both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac predict that mortgage interest rates will average around 3.2% for the remainder of the year. The additional purchasing power and lower cost to own will most certainly drive demand, especially among first- and second-time homebuyers.”

“And secondly, with shelter in place orders barely in our rearview mirror, we’re already seeing a shifting preference from major metropolitan cities to places like the North Carolina mountains,” continued Hanks. “This trend is most noticeable in the upper price points, as these buyers’ wealth and employment tend to be more portable.”