How Elections Historically Affect the Real Estate Market

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According to a Huffington Post article written by David Cross, real estate values continue to increase on average during an election year, but usually at a slightly slower pace than the year before or the year after. I’ve included a graph to help you get a picture of what that looks like. In general, according to historical averages, prices increased the year before at a 6% rate. During the election year itself, the increase slowed to 4.5%. Then in the year after, the rate went back up to 5.3%.

According to that information (and after doing some additional research), Cross didn’t deduce any correlation as to why the market slowed during election years. One thing to keep in mind, however, is that this information is not market-specific. Meaning it doesn’t necessarily represent this specific market, this specific time of year, and this specific election.

Values continue to increase, but usually at a slower pace.

In South Central Pennsylvania, for instance, real estate is continuing to increase at a moderate rate compared to last year. In fact, according to the MLS, it will increase at a faster rate than last year. This is obviously in opposition to the graph’s information. Overall, things like interest rates and other economic variables can have an impact on what home values do, even if - on average - they increase at a slower rate.

If you have any questions on what your home is doing this year, would like a free home value estimate, or just have a general real estate question, please don’t hesitate to contact me or my staff by phone or email!