At this point it is doubtless that you have heard things in the news about the slow down in the housing market and the substantial decrease in overall real estate GDP. While this is definitely the truth, these are just ways to create headlines and get page views and clicks. The bigger and more relevant questions are: What kind of market are we in now? Is it a buyer’s market, are there more options for buyers? Have sellers lost their opportunity to capitalize on the unique real estate frenzy of the past few years?  

Our Current Market

You will, no doubt, hear stories of increased price reductions, sellers with houses on the market for extended periods, and even, wait for it, properties selling below list price. This anecdotal evidence is not the full picture of what we are seeing in our area. The numbers show that there is a change happening in the market, but it is more of a slow shift towards normalizing - not a crash or overnight fire sale.

Days on Market

Average days on market is a popular statistic used to show what kind of market we are in. You can see from the chart above that we are currently at an average of 18 days on market which is just slightly above the all-time lows set in July each of the past two years. In fact, the 2022 dip is eerily similar to what we saw in 2021 which points to more of the same strong seller’s market.

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) keeps a metric of the percentage of homes nationally selling in less than a month and this data tells a similar story. The percentage of homes selling under a month is still at a mind boggling 82%.

Months of Inventory

Another popular metric used by real estate analysts is monthly inventory of homes for sale. This is calculated by looking at how long (based on the current pace) it would take all homes currently on the market to sell. Usually the area of six months is considered a balanced market. We have been in an extremely strong sellers market with inventory even getting below a month over the past two years. Right now it sits at two months and it has leveled off at that point over the past few months.

Conclusion

We are definitely in a shifting market, but this is no dramatic shift. Just a slow move into a more normal market. To answer the original three questions we posed at the top of this post, we are still in a sellers market, buyers have more options than they have had over the past couple years, and seller’s still have a great opportunity to capitalize on unequaled equity gains during the frenzy.

As we head toward a more balanced market, it has never been more important to find a real estate agent that knows the market and has a proven marketing strategy to position your property correctly for the local trends. We have passed the time where sticking a sign in the yard and hoping for 10 offers fall on the doorstep. Come talk to us and we will show you what a full service real estate office can do for you!