Home Buyers Can Rejoice While Sellers Sweat
After a crazy few years of offers over asking price and bidding wars, the slowing real estate market is making it easier for some buyers to lock down the homes of their dreams.
Buyers have a lot more choices as the number of homes for sale is finally rising, increasing 6% in January from a year earlier, according to a recent realtor.com® report. In the largest, most expensive markets, the number of homes with those familiar "For Sale" signs out front were up 12% year over year.
That's because more sellers want to cash in while the market is still relatively hot. At the same time, there are fewer buyers vying for their properties; sky-high prices, rising mortgage rates, and tax changes have simply made it too expensive.
"The greater availability of homes for sale is a good thing for buyers. But we've just had a record-low number of homes for sale in the last year," says Danielle Hale, chief economist of realtor.com. "So the market's improving for buyers, but it still has a long way to go."
Of course, this market isn't so great for sellers. Having seen the big bucks their neighbors had raked in over the previous years, many hoped to do at least as well, and priced their residences high. But as the market has shifted, sellers have been forced to adjust their expectations. About 15% of realtor.com listings saw price reductions, up 2% from a year earlier...
