Last year was an unusual year for the housing market. Expectations of a busy spring sales season were dashed when the coronavirus took hold and mitigation efforts caused interested buyers to delay their plans. But what looked like it may have been a lost year turned into something entirely different. The market rebounded faster than predicted and buyers returned in droves. Sales skyrocketed in early summer and then out performed year-before levels through the end of the year. According to one recent analysis, strong demand and fewer homes for sale also led the market to its biggest growth in any year since 2005. In fact, U.S. housing stock gained $2.5 trillion in value last year and is now worth $36.2 trillion. Naturally, a lot of that value is on the coasts, with cities in California accounting for four of the top 10 metros with the highest housing value. New York was number one overall, though. Its housing stock was worth $3.1 trillion in total.

The number of previously owned homes sold last year was the most in any year since 2006, according to a new report from the National Association of Realtors. Sales of existing homes reached 5.64 million in 2020, a 5.6 percent increase over the year before. Lawrence Yun, NAR's chief economist, says the gains will likely continue. “Home sales rose in December, and for 2020 as a whole, we saw sales perform at their highest levels since 2006, despite the pandemic,” Yun said. “What's even better is that this momentum is likely to carry into the new year, with more buyers expected to enter the market.” There are a couple of reasons Yun believes buyers will be active this year. One is mortgage rates, which are expected to rise slightly but remain historically low. The other is improving economic conditions due to additional stimulus and distribution of the coronavirus vaccine. This combination makes it likely the housing market will have another busy year in 2021.

The S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Indices have been considered among the leading measures of US home prices for decades. According to their most recent release, prices are still rising, continuing a streak that dates back to last summer. In fact, the data – which covers home values through the end of November – shows increases have actually accelerated. Craig Lazzara, managing director and global head of index investment strategy at S&P, says the most recent increase was the biggest since February 2014. “As COVID-related restrictions began to grip the economy last spring, their effect on housing prices was unclear,” Lazzara said. “Price growth decelerated in May and June before beginning a steady climb upward. November's report continues that acceleration in particularly impressive manner. The National Composite last matched this month's 9.5 percent growth rate in February 2014, more than six and a half years ago.” A lower than normal number of homes for sale is the main factor pushing prices higher. As spring approaches, and more homes are listed for sale, prices should begin to moderate from their current pace.

Your credit score is the kind of thing that's easy to forget about until you need it. It doesn't seem to matter much, until it's the difference between getting approved for a loan and being denied. Fortunately, if you check your score and do what you can to improve it, you can avoid this predicament. You just have to give yourself enough time. But how long do you need? Well, according to MyFICO – the official consumer division of FICO – it depends on the type of financing. If you're looking to finance a cell phone or get a new credit card, you don't have much to worry about. A better score will get you better terms, but you'll likely be approved even if your score needs some help. The stakes, however, are a bit different when you're applying for a mortgage. If you're asking to borrow hundreds of thousands of dollars, you have to be able to show you're responsible with your money and able to pay off your debts. That's why MyFICO suggests checking your score at least six months to a year before shopping for a new house. Having time to raise your score will, not only, put you in a better position to qualify for a loan, it'll also help get you the best mortgage rate once you're approved.

Fannie Mae's Economic and Strategic Research Group releases a forecast each month looking at what's ahead for the housing market and overall economy. According to their most recent release, there's reason to be optimistic. For one, the group sees the economy bouncing back this year. The combination of warmer weather and the COVID-19 vaccine rollout will have things picking up starting in spring and continuing into the second half of 2021. Housing activity is also expected to be strong, though it should settle a bit from last year's accelerated pace. Doug Duncan, Fannie Mae's senior vice president and chief economist, says the slow down will be modest. “Our latest forecast projects that the continued waning of pent-up demand from last year's delayed spring home buying season, coupled with a modest rise in interest rates, will likely slow the pace of housing, measured both by the volume of mortgages refinanced and by the pace of home sales,” Duncan said. “However, in our view, a modest slow down in the sales pace is unlikely to prevent year-end 2021 home sales from being higher than 2020.”

Home prices have been increasing for a while now. And, with for-sale inventory still well below normal levels, they'll likely continue to increase. So it'd be easy to get the impression that buying a home in 2021 would be far more expensive than renting a home. But, according to ATTOM Data Solutions' newly released 2021 Rental Affordability Report, owning a median-priced three-bedroom home is still more affordable than renting a three-bedroom home in 63 percent of the counties included in the report. And that's despite the fact that home prices have increased faster than rent in 83 percent of those counties over the past year. Todd Teta, chief product officer with ATTOM, says low mortgage rates are the difference. “Amazingly low mortgage rates … are helping to keep the cost of rising home prices in check,” Teta said. “It's startling to see that kind of trend. But it shows how both the cost of renting has been relatively high compared to the cost of ownership and how declining interest rates are having a notable impact on the housing market and homeownership.”

How we buy homes has undergone a significant transformation in the past year. The proof is in newly released data that shows a record number of recent home buyers made an offer on a home without having ever visited it in person. The numbers, from an online real-estate portal, show 63 percent of buyers who purchased a home last year made an offer without having seen the property. That's up from 32 percent one year earlier and 45 percent in July 2020. So what's driving the trend? Well, mostly it's the COVID-19 pandemic. The virus caused us all to change the way we do things, including buying a home. After its onset, home buyers became more comfortable using technology like virtual home tours to further explore listings that caught their eye online. It also meant more Americans working from home, which lead home shoppers to look for houses in areas that weren't as easy to get to for an in-person walkthrough. The combination of pandemic, technological advancement, and remote work means an increasing number of us have had to – or have chose to – take our home search virtual. It remains to be seen, though, whether or not the trend will continue after the virus subsides.

Remote work has Americans spreading out and the trend doesn't look like it's going anywhere any time soon. More and more, Americans are moving further from city centers and into suburbs and exurbs. In fact, according to one recent survey, two-thirds of participants said they either already had, or would like to, move somewhere within 50 miles of their current home. Some even wanted to move further, with 4 percent saying they moved more than 50 miles away and 10 percent said they'd like to in the future. In short, there are a lot of Americans who are using their newfound ability to work from home as a reason to move elsewhere – whether for extra space, privacy, or to save money. It's not surprising. It's also likely to continue. That's because, just 17 percent of respondents said they thought their work-from-home arrangement would end when the pandemic subsides, while 72 percent said they expect it to be permanent.

The number of homes for sale was already low at the beginning of 2020. It only got worse from there. The pandemic, along with surging buyer demand, led to fewer choices and higher prices for hopeful home buyers. Homes sold quickly as competition spiked. But where was for-sale inventory at the end of the year? Well, according to a new report from the National Association of Realtors' consumer website, the number of homes for sale was down 39.6 percent year-over-year in December, hitting an all-time low. But there may be relief on the way. The number of new listings improved during the month and was just 0.8 percent lower than the year before. This hints at a possible improvement in the coming months. Danielle Hale, the website's chief economist, says any gains will likely take until the second half of 2021. “While December's data points to possible relief on the horizon, this figure has been impacted the most in areas with large COVID surges, and consistent improvement will be key in order to get out of this extreme shortage,” Hale said. “We eventually expect to see improvements in the supply of homes for sale, especially in the second half of the year.”

Home design trends, by their nature, come and go. There's always a hot new color or a must-have fashion. And just as quickly as they appear, they're erased and replaced with the next hot new thing. But when you ask home buyers and homeowners what they want from their homes – beyond the aesthetics – their answers are remarkably consistent. In short, everyone wants their home to be comfortable, efficient, clean, and healthy. That doesn't change. Home buyers and owners want things like smart thermostats, energy-star appliances, balanced ventilation, leak-detection systems, and other high-performance features that can help lower bills and improve the indoor environment. These have been popular features for years now and have only grown more popular since the onset of the coronavirus. This is no surprise. More time in the house has helped us focus on bettering our homes. And, more than likely, our desire for comfort and wellness at home will continue to live on well after the pandemic has subsided.