Tag Archives: inventory

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Sold Out: These 10 U.S. Cities Have the Biggest Housing Shortages

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It’s a parched, scorching desert out there for many U.S. home buyers. For the past 28 months, the housing market has been defined not just by demand—which remains sky-high in many parts of the nation—but also by the shrinking number of available homes for sale. So what are the signposts of a tighter-than-tight marketplace? Buyers are jumping on realtor.com® listings within seconds of their initial postings. Wanna-be homeowners are burrowing themselves into ever-scarcer, ever-busier open houses and going a little mad trying to get in the first bid. Real estate agents are knocking on hundreds of doors just to squeeze out one more listing.

And who are the biggest losers in such a skintight, depleted market? First-time buyers with limited budgets, of course.

Read the article on realtor.com® and see where Seattle ranks…

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Home Buyer Advantage Starts Now

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Buyers had to be prepared to bring their housing A-game this year. Amid tight inventories of homes for sale and a tight lending environment, they’ve needed to get pre-approved for a mortgage, be laser-focused on what it is they want in in order to make quick decisions, and even forgo some contingencies to get the home they wanted.

Though active listings likely will fall more (8 percent over last year), the market still may be shifting slightly as the start of the school year arrives and give buyers more bargaining power, writes Jonathan Smoke, realtor.com®’s chief economist in his latest column.

Read the article on REALTORmag…

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Surviving a Seller’s Market: The Ultimate Cheat Sheet

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In a seller’s market, home buyers need to be willing and able to act fast to snag the home they want. This spring, areas across the country are facing a limited number of homes for sale. Realtor.com® offers up a cheat sheet for surviving a seller’s market.

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First-Time Buyers May Face a Difficult Spring

New Homeowners

Millennials may finally be ready to buy this spring, thanks to an improving job market, low mortgage rates, and record apartment rents. But the big question: Will they be able to?

This spring, first-time buyers may struggle to find a house. The number of homes in the lower-price market is severely limited. Inventory fell 8.2 percent in January from a year earlier for properties priced below $250,000, according to data from the National Association of REALTORS®.

Read the article…

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The Next Three Months: Best Time to Buy

Time to Buy

Low mortgage rates, declining home prices, and homes that are lingering on the market longer are three main reasons why the next three months could be the best time to buy so far this year, says Jonathan Smoke, Realtor.com®’s chief economist.

“The spring and summer home-buying seasons were especially tough on potential buyers this year with increasing prices and limited supply,” Smoke says. “Buyers who are open to a fall or winter purchase should find some relief with lower prices and less competition from other buyers.”

Read the article…

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45 Percent of Properties Were on the Market for Less than a Month in May

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Almost half of all properties sold were on the market for less than a month in May 2015, according to the National Association of REALTORS®.

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Inventory Problems Stall Home Sales

Pending home sales dropped in December, despite interest rates being at the lowest levels in more than a year, the National Association of REALTOR® reports. All regions across the country posted declines in December.

In December, pending home sales nationally fell 3.7 percent month-over-month. Still, NAR’s Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, remained about 6 percent above year-over-year levels for the fourth consecutive month.

Read more…

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Why Inventory Problems Aren’t Going Away

For Sale and Sold

Despite recent increases, new-home inventories remain near all-time lows and are unlikely to return to their highs any time soon, according to a new analysis by John Burns Real Estate Consulting.

The rise in single-family inventory levels over the last few months bring them back only to 2012 levels. What’s more, the supply of condos continues to be at record lows, with fewer new high-rise developments and condo conversions occurring now than in the mid-2000s, John Burns Consulting says.

Read the article…

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REALTORS® Expect Modest Price Growth in Next 12 Months

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With both inventory and demand up, REALTORS® in nearly every state are expecting modest price growth over the next 12 months, according to data gathered in October. But in 14 states, scattered across the country — from California to Massachusetts — REALTORS® are forecasting appreciation of greater than 3-4 percent.

See if your state’s on the list.

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King County Home Prices up 6 percent over year

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Summer has eased the drought of available homes for sale in Greater Seattle, and sales are growing at a pace not seen previously this year.

After five months of declining sales activity compared with a year earlier, the number of June sales was up 2 percent annually, and the supply of homes for sale grew by almost 6 percent, according to a report Thursday by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.

The larger inventory hasn’t lessened competition among buyers in the most sought-after areas, said Mike Gain, president of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Northwest Real Estate.

“We don’t have enough supply of homes for sale in desirable neighborhoods to satisfy the demand,” he said. “In those areas, it is just like a feeding frenzy when a house goes on the market,” he said.

The median price of homes sold in King County has been steadily increasing since February, last month reaching $453,500, a 6 percent increase from a year ago.

Read the article in The Seattle Times…