Buyer’s or Seller’s Market?

Six months ago, I reported the mismatch between the type of inventory of homes for sale and the demand of buyers was creating 2 different markets.

In the starter and trade-up home categories, there were significantly more buyers than there were homes for sale, causing a seller’s market.

In the premium, or luxury, home categories, the opposite was true.  There was a surplus of these homes compared to the number of buyers out looking for homes, which created a buyer’s market.

According to the National Association of Realtors latest Existing Home Sales Report, the inventory of existing homes for sale in today’s market is at a 4.2-month supply. Inventory is now 6.5% lower than this time last year.

Looking at the latest report from Trulia, we can see not much has changed.  In fact, recent natural disasters across the country have made inventory conditions even more dire.

Trulia’s market mismatch score measures the search interest of buyers against the category of homes are available on the market.

For example: “if 60% of buyers are searching for starter homes but only 40% of listings are starter homes, [the] market mismatch score for starter homes would be 20.”

Nationally, buyers are searching for starter and trade-up homes and are coming up short with the umber of listings available.  This is leading to a highly competitive seller’s market in these categories.

On the other hand, premium homebuyers are seeing less competition and more inventory of listings in their price range.  With a 14.7-point surplus, these folks are seeing more of a buyer’s market.

Real Estate Bottom Line

Real estate is local. If you are thinking about buying OR selling this fall, let’s get together to discuss the market conditions in our area.