A Home Buyer's Guide to Omaha Real Estate Trends in 2021

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10/09/2021

 
 

Real estate. It is growing, and some say it is surging rapidly, especially since the pandemic. 

The Nebraska real estate market is no exception to this, as the average value of a home in the state is now $155,800. 

In the United States as a whole, the value of a house increased 9.1% between 2020 and 2021.

So, as the last quarter of 2021 hits, how does this affect Omaha real estate? This is your guide to real estate trends. 

Short Supply

One of the key things in 2021 has been the number of houses available for homebuyers. Omaha was no exception to this, having about 3,000 fewer homes available for sale than the market usually has. 

In a normal Omaha housing market setting, there would be about 3,500 homes available at any given time. Earlier this year, there were just around 500 available. So, with that, the homes that were for sale were selling for well over the asking price

Overall Value Increase

So, we know how much houses in the state of Nebraska are averaging, but what about Omaha specifically? 

Well, the answer is that Omaha is almost matching the increase in value of the entire country.

From June 2020 to June 2021, Omaha's average house value increased 13%. For comparison, houses in the United States as a whole increased by around 17.2% in that same time span. 

There are two types of homes that are particularly benefiting from this market change. The first is single-family homes because those have gone up 19% from last year in the Omaha area compared to just over 10% for places that are part of condominiums. 

The second type of home that is benefiting from this is one that was in the bottom third of the average value in the area before the pandemic. By pure percentage, those have seen a higher increase in value than the top third of houses in Omaha. 

For reference, the former saw a 16% increase compared to 12% for the latter. 

Price of Lumber

Another thing that will affect the housing market overall is the price of lumber. 

Why? Because the more it costs for lumber, the more it will cost to build a house from the ground up, which means that brand new houses will be even more expensive than they were before the lumber price increase. 

For a short time, it looked like the price of lumber was going to return to normal. However, since the end of August, the price has once again been increasing rapidly, increasing by 27% from that time. 

In May, it was actually almost 5x higher than the lowest price of the year back in August. So, until there is more stability in that area, it may continue to dip into the housing market and affect how many new homes get built plus how fast they do so. 

Check Omaha Real Estate

This is just a short summary of the trends in the Omaha real estate market. With this and a little more additional research, you can decide for yourself if you think it is the right time to buy or sell a home. 

Do you have more questions? Contact us for answers from a professional in the local area today!