What Are the Big Influencers to Consider for 2021?
I’m not proud to say this but under the guise of “acceptance is the first step of recovery”, I’m admittedly the world’s easiest target for instagram ads. The algorithm has clearly honed in on my constant desire to be in the fashion grey area between “who in their right mind would buy that” and “admirably trendy”, which has led me to buy cow print jeans, four-inch suede platform heels, and coats that were previously reserved for only Russian Mafia hit women.
Thumbing back on some of the worst influencing movements I’ve being heavily swayed by:
- Abercrombie & Fitch: I was an avid double-popped collar’er in the hay day of the the mid-2000s and on occasion, attempted the apex of sophistication – the triple popped collar.
- Sun-in – my hair has yet to shake the coppery undertone of my failed attempt to look like Kate Bosworth in Blue Crush.
- Two-inch Inseams: Unless you are a 12-year-old girl with an overactive Thyroid please never attempt this unless you want your midsection to look like compressed meat breaking free out of the confines of sausage casing.
- Kylie Jenner’s Lip-kit: I recently had to archive about 20 instagram photos where my lips are large, matte, and just uncomfortably unnatural.
- Pork Belly: For about 12-months, pork belly was on every menu – in salads, on burgers, on donuts, in tacos, it was dressed up, dressed down, fried, grilled, stuffed, topped, shredded. You name it, Pork Belly was there. Conversely, that slab of pure, unadulterated, shamelessly bad fat did no one any good.
- Posting Selfies: My selfie career was short-lived and has since been erased from the internet because any attempt either looked like a failed crack at a sultry mug shot or a mass circulated Amber Alert for a moody preteen.
- Becoming a Gymnast: Every four years, still, I reevaluate if it’s too late to conquer the pommel horse.
- Girl Scout Cookies: While the poor women who have been sucked into pyramid schemes – shoving falsified hair products and vitamin powders down their instagram followers’ throats – are the butt to countless jokes these days, we have to show slight pity. As a former Girl Scout myself, the seeds for our susceptibility to MLM brainwashing were planted early on, notably with our being rewarded with embroidered patches for pushing boxes of Thin Mints.
While most influencing factors when looked at singularly don’t seem like they can make big waves in world, when introduced into the right climate, they can cause a storm. So today we’re going to discuss the main influencers I see on the horizon, posing to steer the real estate market in 2021.
1. Ultra-low interest rates. Yes, they are still historically low. They are also fueling rising prices. Seldom – if ever – has there been a weak real estate market in a low interest rate environment.
2. Limited Inventory. Many areas around the US are experiencing shortages of several types of properties, especially the first-time buyer inventory, which for New York means under-$2mm. More buyers than sellers usually fuels a strong market, as in real estate, supply rarely mirrors demand in growth.
3. High Demand. The demand to buy a new home continues to escalate, fueled further by accelerated plans (e.g. people growing out of apartments quickly due to WFH) and Millennials coming of age to buy.
4. COVID Vaccines. They’re here and distribution is underway, as millions will be vaccinated every month. There is now a clear path to significant relief and an end to the pandemic, heralding in job growth as well.
5. Upsizing. Competition in the move-up market should escalate this year, due to people wanting larger spaces that combine open floor-plans with segmented spaces. The rate at which people grew out of their homes drastically increased in the last 12 months.
6. Stimulus Money into the Economy. Trillions of dollars are already circulating globally and more is coming to further fuel the economy.
7. Bonus Season. Yes, many people will be getting bonuses this year especially in the financial and technology markets where some companies have boomed. This capital will fuel real estate markets.
8. Record Equity Markets. Not only do they make people richer, they make them feel richer. Moods often drive markets as much as money.
9. The optimism of Spring. Spring markets are often strong markets around the country. They fuel optimism and hope and renewal. Seeing we lost the Spring 2020 market, 2021 is predicted to have compounded energy.
So will 2021 deliver a strong real estate market? Americans are poised to take more mortgages this year than they did during the run-up to the 2008-09 financial crisis. Mortgage applications to refinance are an eye-popping 89% higher than a year ago. Mortgage applications to purchase were a strong 22% higher annually at the close of 2020. In the first 9 months of 2020, lenders extended $2.8 trillion in mortgages. This boom extended into the final quarter of 2020, prompting analysts to predict origination volume in 2021 will exceed the prior record of $3.7 trillion in 2003.