February update written directly from the Cromford Report.
Active listings have more than doubled since last month! This means that a slight shift is taking place and is creating more competition for sellers.
Good news is that the market is still holding strong!
We have started to see listing prices reducing, so as we continue further into the year we are likely to see the market shift more in favor of buyers.
As always …. we are a call/text/email away from helping you ?
For Buyers:
A weak 4th quarter for sales in 2018 has resulted in 11,874 price reductions in the first 5 weeks of 2019. That’s 24% higher than this same time last year. Price reductions on listings between $200K-$500K specifically are up 40%. The most notable price range with a 42% in- crease is $200K-$250K. This may come as a surprise to some because this price range is below the median sales price of $263K. However this area is currently a battleground of competition between traditional sellers, flip investors and new construction as inventory is up 26% and contracts are down 10%. Flip investors acquire and sell over 50% of their inventory in this price range. New home builders increased their sales by 22% in this range last year. Tradition- al sellers are now under more pressure to improve the condition of their home and provide incentives for buyers in order to compete.
For Sellers:
This isn’t a good time for sellers to get caught up in timing the market so as to sell their home at the ideal “peak of price”. While it’s understandable for sellers not to want to leave any money on the table, the reality is that price peaks don’t happen in seller markets. They occur in balanced markets. Balanced markets are fine to sell in, but they’re not as fun or profitable for sellers as they expect; especially if their property is hard to sell due to condition or loca- tion. As the seller market continues to weaken, it’s more important than ever for sellers to list their property while they still have the advantage of low competition, price it competitively and don’t spit on the first contract. Buyer activity, while lower, will continue to accelerate through May. This is go time.
Commentary written by Tina Tamboer, Senior Housing Analyst with The Cromford Report
©2019 Cromford Associates LLC and Tamboer Consulting LLC
(if you would like a copy of the below Market Analysis, please email me and I would be happy to send it over to you)
