QCA housing market booms amid pandemic

DAVENPORT, Iowa (KWQC) - The housing market in the Quad Cities, and around the country, is seeing record sales.

According to the National Association of Realtors, sales of existing homes soared by 24.7 percent from June to July. This marks the strongest monthly gain since the group began tracking in 1968.

“A lot of the houses are selling within hours, if not that same day, with multiple offers. Almost anything that’s hitting the market, if it’s priced right, it’s marketed right and you’re working with the right agent, it’s definitely going to sell right away,” Greg Garza, an Iowa licensed realtor for Mel Foster Co., said.

For first-time homebuyers Hali Strobel and Ron Chhim, the process of purchasing their first house was overwhelming.

“We’ve been looking for houses since April. So it definitely was a long process,” Strobel said.

“I was surprised that there weren’t a lot of houses to choose from,” Chhim said, “We were really stressed out throughout the whole process. We looked at about 20 houses.”

The couple said working with a realtor and loan officer helped the process. After months of looking, they finally found the house they wanted, but it came with tough competition from other prospective homebuyers.

“It was the first house that we put an offer in on and the first house that accepted our offer,” Strobel said, “It sold within a day.”

According to the NAR, the supply of existing homes dropped over 21 percent in July, the lowest July supply in the history of the survey.

Copyright 2020 KWQC. All rights reserved.