The wave of soaring home prices has been building for months – and sellers have been cashing in. I don’t predict anything catastrophic on the horizon, but we are beginning to see a shift in the market and, if you have been thinking about selling, NOW is the time to do it.
Of course, there are a few questions you need to ask yourself. Where will I go? What will I do? Can I afford to sell and buy? These are all valid thoughts, but if you want to and can afford to, you should seriously consider this summer as the time to do it. Check out a few good starting points, no cost no obligation.
We keep in touch with many of the top teams from all across the nation and we have all been seeing small adjustments in the market for a few months now. It appears that this is the beginning of a shift. Inventory levels in most states are creeping up, days on market are slowly rising, and more expired homes (or homes that were listed but not sold) are popping up. These factors are just a few of the indicators that things are beginning to turn towards a healthier market.
Also, as our buyer’s agents would tell you, it is not uncommon to actually have a few homes in a given price range to show potential buyers, rather than only one or two, as well as not have multiple offers on every single one of them within a few days. Most areas still have multiple offers, but the conditions are not as aggressive as they once were.
This can be attributed, in part, to sellers catching up to the market by pricing their homes higher than they should, buyers pulling back on extremely aggressive offers, consumer uncertainty as our national economy changes, and many other small factors that all add up to the beginning of a change.
So what does all of this mean? It could be a slowdown that causes a brief drop in sales (and potentially prices) for a short time, then a bit of a plateau, followed by healthier (slower) appreciation. Not a major swing either way, but a bit of a pull back within the next 3-9 months, then the shift to something healthier.
I don’t see a bubble bursting. The term “what goes up must come down” is great when talking about gravity, but not always the case in real estate. The more likely scenario, given historic cycles and the ups and downs of other tourist destinations across the country like ours, is what I described above. But, if my crystal ball says anything different, I will be sure to let everyone know.