Temperatures aren’t the only thing cooling off this fall, as the pandemic housing boom has quickly started to simmer.
Higher mortgage interest rates and continued inflation has begun correcting the housing market, but what does that mean for you?
If you’re in the market to buy or sell a home this fall, here’s what you can expect across much of the Carolinas’ Markets–because we also need to remember that real estate is local, and markets vary greatly from one area to the next.
It’s still a sellers’ market
How do we know that? In our industry we look at MSI (Months Supply of Inventory) as just one of the indicators of the market. MSI is based on the number of months it would take to sell the currently listed homes on the market. Typically, we are considered to be in a seller’s market if our MSI is less than 5 months.
Since, on average, we are still under 3 months of inventory in our area, we are still in a seller’s market. However, be prepared to see open houses on the weekends, and have the house ready for showings that may be sporadic over the period of a few days or weeks, etc. as opposed to how it has been even as recent as 30 days ago. The market is shifting for sure and sometimes believing it and mentally preparing for that is the toughest part!
You’ll have more time to make a decision
Another factor we consider is the average Days on Market (DOM) and how it compares over time. Is it increasing or decreasing? This data is much more hyperlocal in nature.
If Days on Market where you are searching for a home continues downward, there won’t be much time to make a decision; however, we are currently seeing homes stay on the market longer than hours and fewer sight unseen offers are being made. Of course, even with a normalizing market, the best listings may still be receiving multiple offers, but even still, we expect to see fewer multiple offer situations going forward. So, buyers right now may have a little more inventory to choose from, and of that inventory, have a little more time to make their decision to purchase.
Pricing your home correctly is very important
Although hard to believe, it’s like a light switch was flipped. The time seems to have passed when some sellers were just “testing the market,” putting the highest price on their property and seeing if it would sell. Now more than ever, it is crucial to position your home properly, and that includes more than price.
How does your home compare to others in competition with it? Does it have the same updates and features? How about the yard and view around the house? What is your motivation and timeline to have your property sold? What terms are acceptable to you as a seller? What are interest rates doing? Am I pricing it at the top of the range of my competition, in the middle, or lower-end, based on my competition?
Overpricing your home in this market could be detrimental and most comparable homes on the market will show that those homes priced at a fair market value are actually receiving offers and even more for their homes than those starting too high.
