Sellers Begin to Enter the Market
We could see an uptick in housing stock
The real estate market today challenges buyers to find available homes for purchase as inventory has not been keeping up with demand. However, per a recent release from Realtor.com, signs are evident that sellers are beginning to return to the market.
Javier Vivas, Director of Economic Research at Realtor.com states: “Seller confidence has been improving gradually after reaching its bottom in mid-April, and now it appears to have reached an important recovery milestone…After five long months, sellers are back in the housing market; while encouraging, the improvement to new listings is only the first step in the long road to solving low inventory issues keeping many buyers at bay.”
More properties are being listed for sale but the inventory is still below where we need to see them keep up with current buyer demand. Housing supply these days is good for about 4 months at the current sales pace but ideally we would need enough for 6 months for it to be in proper balance. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) explains:
“Total housing inventory at the end of June totaled 1.57 million units, up 1.3% from May, but still down 18.2% from one year ago (1.92 million). Unsold inventory sits at a 4.0-month supply at the current sales pace, down from both 4.8 months in May and from the 4.3-month figure recorded in June 2019.”
For sellers, now can still be an ideal time for them to enter the market as chances are that competition in the area is still relatively low. Most will not want to wait until later when more sellers list and the options for buyers will be more abundant. In many regions the fall market can be a time when activity increases.
For buyers, the news of more inventory coming in is encouraging as there will be more to choose from in their searches. Extremely low mortgage rates continue to hover at record levels which makes now a great time to make a home purchase.
In the end housing inventory still needs improvement to match buyer demand but we see things moving in that direction. For anyone debating a move in the near future, now is a good time to reach out to your real estate professionals and discuss the local market.
