TheMReport

46 | TH E M R EP O RT O R I G I NAT I O N S E R V I C I N G DATA G O V E R N M E N T S E C O N DA R Y M A R K E T THE LATEST DATA Quick Deals Home shoppers are closing on offers faster, while sellers have to wait a little longer to sell. H omebuyers are spend- ing less time looking for homes in 2019, com- pared to previous years, according to a study by Redfin. The study, which analyzed home tours and offer activities among people who bought homes through Redfin agents over the past five years, indicated that it took the typical homebuyer three fewer days to close on their new home compared to last year. In February 2019, it took homebuyers 76 days to close on a home after their first home tour. The number had reached an all-time high in winter 2016 at 84 days. Some of the factors responsible for homebuyers closing on their homes faster in 2019 compared to previous years included a rise in housing supply, a slower growth rate of home prices, and a less com - petitive market, according to Redfin. "This year, there are more homes for sale relative to the number of buyers, so a buyer is more likely to have their first offer accepted, while sellers are having to wait longer for their home to be sold," said Daryl Fairweather, Chief Economist at Redfin. "It's like a 1950s-era school dance with more boys than girls—the girls can quickly find a dancing partner, but more boys are waiting around with no one to dance with." In fact, sellers who are waiting longer to secure a buyer this year are being faced with less favor - able conditions, the report noted. Nationwide, homes that sold in February spent a median 59 days on the market before going under contract, up two days from a year earlier, and following three con - secutive years of acceleration. The competition also seems to be shifting from West Coast markets to the East Coast, with buyers on the East Coast spend - ing more time on the market this year than last year. Regionally, Philadelphia (28 days faster); Houston (17 days); and Washington, D.C., (14 days) saw the biggest year-over-year drops in the number of days buy - ers spent on the market looking for a home. However, buyers in Miami (17 days longer) and New York (13 days) spent longer shop - ping than last year. Rising Opportunities Long-term results are yet to be seen, but so far sales and sales prices are rising in government-designated "opportunity zones." T here's good news for some of the low-income and high-poverty areas that were designated as opportunity zones last spring. Ac - cording to an analysis by Zillow, these areas have seen a surge in sales prices since they received the designation as investors, keen to receive a discount on capital gains taxes for investing within these areas, flock to these opportunity zones. According to Zillow, sales prices in all eligible areas "grew faster than prices in places that weren't, but after op - portunity zones were selected, price-growth trends diverged among eligible tracts." The report re - vealed that areas that were eligible but had not been chosen as opportunity zones saw a slowdown in sales price appreciation, while prices in designated opportunity zones grew by more than 20% annually. The government's opportunity zones program is intended to revitalize low-income or high-pov - erty areas by spurring investments in them. The report indicated that of the tens of thousands of eligible census tracts, 8,700 areas across the country were selected by state governors and certified by the Treasury Department as opportu - nity zones. Since there are no rules that in- vestments must be spread equally across the zones, the report indicated that some opportunity zones could see more residential real estate development activity than others. "Proponents argue that a lot of the money generated as capital gains could be used as seed mon - ey [to revitalize] traditionally ne- glected communities. But whether this tax break will direct funds to the communities that need them the most—or what happens when the money arrives—remain open questions," said Alexander Casey, Policy Advisor for Zillow. "But what's clear in the meantime is that among the vast array of neighborhoods selected as op - portunity zones we've witnessed wildly different housing market trends up to this point, which might hint at the future of these communities." The analysis also looked at the top 10 zones that were hot for investments. According to Zillow's research, five of the top 10 opportunity zones "primed for investment" are in New York. Of these, four are in Brooklyn and one is in Queens. Zillow noted that Boston metro opportunity zones had the "high - est average rank among all zones included in the analysis." With two other metros among the 10 highest averages, Massachusetts had the highest statewide average rank. According to Zillow, sales prices in all eligible areas "grew faster than prices in places that weren't, but after opportunity zones were selected, price- growth trends diverged among eligible tracts."

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