condo sales

In a bit of a surprise, given the continued high price of single-family homes, condo sales dropped 12% nationwide in July while homes were only down 1%. And the trend is essentially across the entire country – except the Northeast where sales were flat – 11% down in the West, 15% in the South, 17% in the Midwest.

As to why this is happening, analysts cited several possible reasons:

• While prices for condos are generally lower, they are also smaller which means the price-per-sqaure-foot is considerably higher – 35.8% higher in July.
• Homeowner association fees continue to rise, current $650 nationwide.

As many homebuyers look to upsize as a result of remote working arrangements or move to the suburbs or more isolated towns, some are finding they are being priced out of single-family homes as prices increase due to low inventory. The next best thing: affordable condos.

As the average single-family home s the U.S. costs $58,000 more than the average condo, more and more families are looking at condos.

Condo sales fell more than 50% in the spring and many are currently heavily discounted. October saw sales increase nearly 23 percent compared to 2019 so this is clearly a growing rend.