Between the shift in the housing market, lasting effects of the global pandemic and the economic change, there have been many effects to the market in 2022. Despite these changes, as shown from the housing trends report from Zillow 2022, many behaviors of sellers and buyers have remained the same.
Who is selling their home?
The statistics of those selling their homes has not changed drastically, or much at all, over the last few years. With the average seller in 2022 being 46 years old, with a partner or previous partner and some college education, these stats are very similar to 2021 and 2020. Over ⅔ of these sellers are also buyers in the same market. Nearly half (44%) of the sellers in 2022 upgraded to a higher price point home after selling their home. This is a decline from 2021 where 55% of sellers upgraded to a high price point.
What are sellers looking for in an agent?
When selling a property, homeowners are not only interested in finding an agent who will list their home at the highest possible price.
There are specifics that sellers are looking for when searching for an agent. More and more sellers look for an agent that is part of a legacy brokerage or team, this has increased from 46% to 51% in the last two years.
Having an online presences is growing in importance as well. 56% of sellers want to see your online reviews and rating and 72% want to see that you have a positive reputation in the community.
Where did sellers find their agent?
30% of sellers with an agent and 35% of first time sellers found their agents online. When we say online, this does not include search engines, social media or real estate websites such as Zillow.
Having your own website or team website is growing in importance; as mentioned above, sellers want to know more than the bottom line when choosing an agent. Having an online presence is key to growing your personal brand and being recognized by potential buyers or sellers. Having your own website allows you to select the information you share. The stats above can help guide you in determining what information is most important to include.
What homes are for sale?
Of the homes sold in 2022, ¾ were single detached home, most of which had 3 bedrooms, 2 ½ baths and averaged 2,500 square feet. The average seller had lived in their home for 14 years before deciding to sell in 2022.
Marketing with virtual tours and floor plans
Over half (60%) of home sellers believe that including a virtual tour in their listing is a highly important feature. Even more sellers (76%), say that including a floor plan in their listing is highly important.
Sellers who included a virtual tour in their marketing were 70% more likely to receive a cash offer and typically sold for 22% more. Only 56% of sellers who did not include a virtual tour received cash offers.
With the data above, it is no surprise that agents who provide a virtual tour and/or floor plan are more likely to be chosen by sellers — They 75% more likely to be chosen by a first time seller. Having virtual tours and floor plans is a simple way to greatly expend your reach to a wider audience!
Open Houses
As virtual marketing becomes more common and easier to access, we have seen a decrease in the number of open houses being held. In 2022, 33% of sellers did not host any open houses, only 11% held more than 3.
Sellers and Buyers Exerience in 2022
In 2021 14% of sellers received at least 4 offers, this trend is continuing to increase upwards of 26% in 2022.
Also following the trends of 2021, most sellers had no offers fall through.
Many offers in 2022 had cash offers, 62%, but 68% of buyers used a mortgage for the purchase, likely using more appealing offers in other ways. In addition to an increase in cash offers, there was an increase in offers including a waived inspection. Despite this, 88% of buyers did receive a home inspection.
How was the survey completed for accurate results?
Zillow’s Approach
Ensure comprehensive data from across the US, 3 nationally representative surveys were completed on over 5,900 sellers between March and June of 2022. In order to compare 2022 to previous years, many questions from previous reports were repeated in 2022’s survey. This is important because Zillow and the reads want to know what has changed and what has stayed the same through all of the changes that the market has experienced.
“For the purpose of this study, “sellers” refers to household decision makers 18 years of age or older who moved and sold their previous primary residence within the past year.” Edward Berchick
Quality Control
There has to be quality control on online surveys. Surveys and related data were reviewed to remove data that may be inaccurate. Zillow determined that some surveys were completed by robots, on multiple devices, or professionals as opposed to the actual seller. In addition, the survey time was recorded to eliminate those who may have rushed through the survey and provided inaccurate or poor quality results. These surveys were reviewed and removed if necessary. There was also an in-survery control that checked for unrealistics responses.
In depth data on sellers and homes sold in 2022
Continue through the next section to learn more about the data on sellers and homes sold on 2022 in more detail. This information was provided by Zillow Consumer Housing Trends Report 2022.
Age
As mentioned previously, the average seller was 46 years old, although the age of sellers in 2022 had a very wide range.
Region
There is a larger population of adults in the south, which typically corolates to a larger number of sellers. There is also historically more inventory and new construction in the south than any other region.
Income
The average seller in 2022 had a household income of $80,000 to $84,900, as opposed to the average seller income in 2021 of $65,700
Education
As mentioned previously, most sellers in 2022 had some college education. To be more specific, 45% of sellers had at least a 4 year degree.
Relationship Status
The sale of a home is often correlated with life events, such as forming a family or separation as shown from Zillow’s prior research. This research is supported by the sellers information from 2022.
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