Zillow’s Matthew Speakman on what’s driving homebuyer demand

Today’s HousingWire Daily features an interview with Zillow Economist Matthew Speakman. In this episode, Matthew Speakman discusses Zillow’s recent report that indicates strong homebuyer demand drove home sales in October.

Here is a small preview of today’s interview with Matthew Speakman. The transcript below has been lightly edited for length and clarity:

HW: I want to start by discussing Zillow’s recent report that states existing home sales continued to surge in October on the strength of buyer demand. The report, which uses data from the National Association of Realtors, indicates existing home sales rose to 6.85 million in October, climbing 4.3% from September and 26.6% from a year ago. What does this tell us about the current state of the housing market?

Matthew Speakman: It’s pretty remarkable. It’s another strong stretch of reports on the housing market. The report says it’s the strongest annual growth in more than a decade and the best pace in overall existing sales since before the Great Recession. Again, it’s a reiteration that housing market activity is really strong and healthy. There is elevated buyer demand and market competition for the few homes listed on the market. Mortgage rates and other factors have enabled some people to take the leap into the housing market and offered more attractive buying conditions. Overall, it’s just an emphasis that the housing market has fared really well throughout the pandemic, and that continues into the Fall.

The HousingWire Daily examines the most compelling articles reported from the HousingWire newsroom. Each afternoon, we provide our listeners with a deeper look into the stories coming across our newsroom that are helping Move Markets Forward. Hosted by the HW team and produced by Alcynna Lloyd and Victoria Wickham.

HousingWire articles covered in this episode:

• Mortgage rates break record again, down to 2.72%
• Existing home sales increase for the fifth month in a row