Housing Market 2020:Have you thought about moving amid the coronavirus pandemic?

Have you thought about moving amid the coronavirus pandemic?

Is your Instagram feed littered with captions reading “Surprise! We bought a house!” underneath photos of couples posing with sets of keys and whimsically colored front doors? Have you seen unbearably long lines for open houses in your own neighborhood?

If it seems like the hottest pandemic purchase is a home, well, it’s not just your hunch telling you that.

A shocking volume of homes are selling rapidly, according to recent data. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) released a report in late September finding that existing home sales had hit a 14-year high in August. In fact, Bloomberg reported just days later that if homes continue to sell at that rate, the US would run out of new homes inventory in just over three months, the shortest such time frame in records dating all the way back to 1963.

Sure enough, in September, total housing inventory hit a new record low, of just 2.7 months supply, per the National Association of Realtors.

As the fall progresses, builders have tried to remedy the shortfall, starting construction at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.42 million in September, a 1.9% increase from the previous month and an 11% increase year-over-year, per Census data. The building segment isn’t running on all cylinders, though — single-family starts were up 8.5% but multifamily construction was down 17%, Realtor.com reported, a drag on momentum.

Meanwhile, most newly minted homeowners already regret their decision, survey data shows.

Buying a home right now isn’t nearly as affordable as low mortgage rates promise, with low supply continually ratcheting home prices up. And it’s only going to become more expensive, potentially dashing future homeowners’ dreams.