It’s official.  Millennials—or the group of individuals born between 1980 and 2000—finally outnumber Baby Boomers.   Reputedly the two largest generations in history, these two massive groups of consumers have been largely responsible for the historic run on housing that has left our region with a persistent shortage of existing homes to sell; amid a resurgent market for new construction.

In case you haven’t been following the news, ours is a market that has seen record inventories of properties pared down to practically nothing as the region’s economy and job market have made remarkable comebacks, giving buyers the confidence to finally act on several years of postponed housing need.  Baby Boomers, able to sell their homes elsewhere, have resumed retiring to Southwest Florida in unprecedented numbers; while Millennials—flush with new jobs, secure incomes and new families—are saying adios to rising rents in order to pursue the lower-cost alternative of purchasing a home.  In addition, our market is being increasingly targeted by second home buyers attracted to our magical Gulf Coast lifestyles.

Inasmuch as this historic demand has thoroughly outstripped supply for the better part of three years, properties throughout the region have reclaimed a significant portion of their value—thanks to 28 consecutive months of year-over-year median price gains—without the market becoming overheated.

Though up considerably, home prices are still as much as 30% below their peak; and the lax lending terms that led to easy mortgages and the temptation to “play” the market with other people’s money are long gone.  Instead, buyers are paying cash or meeting rigorous mortgage qualifiers in order to buy homes that they genuinely plan to live in—or lease out in a rental market that is similarly starved for inventory.

How long this unprecedented level of buying will last is contingent on a number of market forces, not the least of which are historically low interest rates that have lent an extra layer of affordability to our market for the past several years.  As such, buyers are determined to act quickly before prices rise above their level of affordability; and before the Federal Reserve finally makes good on its much-publicized intent to raise interest rates by as early as September.  Each of these events, of course, will lessen affordability and shrink the pool of available buyers for properties in many price ranges.   Additionally, new construction is finally catching up with demand, with more new inventory choices expected to lessen the upward pressure on existing home prices.

The traditional end of our market’s busiest home selling season is at hand; and in view of its many consecutive months of rising home values, now is the time to seriously explore the possibility of selling your home while the largest contingents of Boomers and Millennials are still in the market, still exuding confidence; and still ready to buy before another ounce of housing affordability slips away.

It costs nothing to find out how your home stacks-up against the competition in its neighborhood and price range.  Contact your MS&C agent—or indeed any of our more than 650 neighborhood experts throughout Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte Counties—to learn the market conditions in your specific area and to find out how you can take immediate advantage of one of the largest, most receptive and financially qualified pools of buyers in Southwest Florida’s history.