Monday, February 26, 2018

Inventory Remains Low More Homes Needed To Satisfy Buyers

Existing-home sales declined for the second consecutive month in January and last month’s decrease was the sharpest in three years.

Total existing-home sales slumped by 3.2% in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.38 million, according to the National Association of Realtors.  The annual rate during December 2017 was 5.56 million.

Sales are down by 4.8% compared to this time a year ago, which is the lowest annual drop since August 2014.

Once again, low inventory is at the forefront of the market’s problems. Housing inventory actually increased by 4.1% last month to 1.52 million existing homes available for sale. Good news, right? Sort of. Inventory is still 9.5% lower than a year ago and has fallen year-over-year for 32 consecutive months, according to the NAR. Unsold inventory is at a 3.4-month supply at the current sales pace.

NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun believes the market desperately needs a correction from a supply standpoint to
satisfy rampant buyer demand.

“While the good news is that Realtors® in most areas are saying buyer traffic is even stronger than the beginning of last year, sales failed to follow course and far lagged last January’s pace,” Yun said. “It’s very clear that too many markets right now are becoming less affordable and desperately need more new listings to calm the speedy price growth.”

The good news for agents and sellers is that prices increased for the 71st consecutive month. The median existing-home price in January was $240,500, up 5.8% from January 2017.

Agents can seriously control the market by accumulating a sufficient inventory of listings. Not only can you grow your network by connecting with sellers and buyers, you’ll put yourself in a prime position to cash in on the current market conditions. Until supply meets demand, housing prices should continue to rise.

Saturday, February 10, 2018

Continued Low Inventory Means Sellers Are Getting More For Their Home

The real estate market has pretty much remained the same since the last quarter of 2017.  In most areas it is still a seller's market.  

The number of homes for sale continued to drop and prices
climbed back to pre-recession levels. 2018 looks to be another strong seller’s market as prices continue to increase as they have, month-over-month, since early 2012.

In December, the number of new listings in the county fell by nearly 600 homes compared to November, according to Realcomp. There were 1,510 new listings in November while December dropped to 941 homes.

Median prices and inventory decreased compared to November. Homes sold during December averaged $248,950, up from $238,450. Inventory dropped 400 homes from November.

2017 was an extremely good year for all metro Detroit residential property values. As we continue to have a low supply of homes on the market, values continue to rise. Many areas are now back to their pre great recession levels.

2018 could very well remain a strong seller’s market as inventory drops, selling prices increase and interest rates remain low.

The story in 2017 continued to be sale prices and inventory. Sale prices were up 9.4 percent over 2016 and 38.9 percent over the last four years. The one downfall with home values increasing rapidly with inventory so low, it’s been harder to appraise homes.

This challenge is due to the fact that because of the lack of inventory, buyers are willing to pay more in competitive situations.

The problem comes when a buyer is willing to pay more for your home but you can’t sell it for more because there are no other homes to compare it to.

December 2017

• New Listings: 941 (- 11.7 percent from 2016)

• Pending Sales: 881 (- 1.8 percent from 2016)

• Closed sales: 1,252 (- 6.4 percent from 2016)

• Days on Market Until Sale: 38 (- 5 percent from 2016)

• Median Sales Price: $248,950 (+ 12.8 percent from 2016)

• Average Sales Price: $288,937 (+ 6.6 percent from 2016)

• Percent of list price received: 97.9 percent (+ 0.9 percent from 2016)

• Inventory of Homes for Sale: 3,103 (- 29 percent from 2016)

• Months Supply of Inventory: 2.1 (-30 percent from 2016)


December 2016

• New Listings: 1,066

• Pending Sales: 897

• Closed sales: 1,337

• Days on Market Until Sale: 40

• Median Sales Price: $220,750

• Average Sales Price: $271,079

• Percent of list price received: 97 percent

• Inventory of Homes for Sale: 4,372

• Months Supply of Inventory: 3

OAKLAND COUNTY DECEMBER HOUSING MARKET: http://gmaronline.com/documents/stats/17.12_Oakland.pdf

OAKLAND COUNTY NOVEMBER HOUSING MARKET: http://gmaronline.com/documents/stats/17.11_Oakland.pdf

SOUTHEAST MICHIGAN HOUSING MARKET 2017 SUMMARY: http://gmaronline.com/documents/stats/18_YearEnd.pdf

Ronald Dwyer is a licensed Realtor serving: Troy, Rochester, Rochester Hills, Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills, Bloomfield Township, Sterling Heights, Shelby Township, Livonia, Novi, Livonia, Canton, Plymouth, Dearborn, Dearborn Heights, Redford and all Southeastern Michigan 

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