My Take | Why do presidential elections affect the real estate market?

Every four years as we approach the presidential election in America, the real estate market holds its breath for the outcome. True, elections are also held during our ‘off-season’, which is typically a slow time for sales on its own, yet the shoulder season slowdown is felt greater in an election year in comparison to the preceding 3 years. But why is that?

Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist of the National Association of Realtors shared, “we’ve seen after presidential elections – and it doesn’t matter who wins – that there’s usually a slight boost in home sales… It removes some uncertainty. Now you know the policy, and you can make predictions about what will happen and make a decision based on that.”

On paper, you would think that given the history of the world continuing to rotate post-election that we would all use this logic and move on with business as usual, even in an election year. The caveat is that humans with human emotions are the ones buying and selling homes, trading stocks, etc., contributing to my theory that big financial decisions are just as much emotional as they are logical.

Of course, I’m looking at the real estate market from a very macro lens here and not even scratching the surface on the micro effects of a presidential election where policies, interest rates, etc., affect where buyers and sellers want to put their money; but if your goal is to own real estate in the Roaring Fork Valley, it’s important to keep that in mind and hire a professional to help realize your goal regardless of the season.

 Whether you're looking to buy, sell, or invest in the Aspen Snowmass and Roaring Fork Valley markets, I’d be honored to be the trusted professional to guide you every step of the way.

Feel free to use my contact information below if you ever have any real estate questions I can help with or if you’d like to see if I may be the right fit as your real estate agent.