Miscellaneous
?This was an interesting week for sales versus new listings. Weekly, we have been seeing more sales than listings, but with this latest drop again in sales and new listings staying flat we are almost on par with sales being equal to new listings, which would bring us more into a balanced market. ?Despite how slow the week was with only 40 sales, 65% of them were in multiple offers. We have seen bidding wars spread between 50% at a low to a high of 80% (for number of bidding wars in any given week). With these numbers we are in the middle of the range, but it is higher than we have seen in the most recent few weeks, which shows buyers are feeling a bit rushed with the thought of moving in with the snow looming. ?The other big surprise this week was the number of total listings, dropping down again, this time into the mid 150’s. The last time we saw listings this low was around April Fools which shows me that we have seen the peak in listing volume that we expect in a spring/summer marketplace. Moving forward we will most likely follow the path we saw over the winter last year of bottoming out just over 100 total listings, as we expect the seasonality to return to the market. What does this mean for buyers? If you are expecting to see a whole bunch of options as you're searching, you will most likely be disappointed. A lack of listings is one of the biggest factors that have led to the increases in housing prices. If the volume continues similar to last year, we could be primed for another bump in average sale price. ?One of the most frustrating thing in this marketplace for me as an agent is "the underpriced listing". I’m so used to seeing it, we know the listing agents who are consistently guilty of it; and sure it may work as a strategy for their sellers, so all the power to them, but when we are shopping with buyers there is nothing more frustrating. Just this morning I am touring a first time buyer around a few homes in a first time buyer price range. There’s a new place that just hit the market, photos look amazing, cute as a button and the price is super reasonable! After walking thru the home, I was honest with her that I believe the place will sell at least 100k above where it's listed at, and in all reality probably closer to 120k above the asking price! The frustration lies in the fact that there are already limited homes to see in her budget, and the one that she gets her hopes up for most is the most unrealistic that will be an option in her price range. This is what gets people upset with Realtors and the housing market in general. Again, I understand this is a strategy that can work out best for sellers, as it sparks chaos and may result in people paying more than they would have rationally paid for the place. But this is the reason people hate Realtors. ❄️Where does the market go from here? We see the slow down is happening with market activity. It's playing out week to week with the fewer sales and even reduced listings. I’ve talked about it a few times in the past, about how the listings will see an uptick as we have a last push before the winter market; but even with that we won’t see a return to the chaos of the spring market. The big unknown in the market may be attached to the upcoming election just 10 days away. Each parties platform is unique and has a way of shaping some changes in the housing market; mostly in a positive way for investors and buyers. Politicians are meandering to the public, that is looking to make it easier to jump in the housing market. This at the expense of longer amortizations, artificial interest rates and government incentives. This is a great thing in the short term, but can have some negative effects in the long term if people are taking on more debt than what is reasonable.