Happy Memorial Day!!
It may be a holiday week-end but the real estate market is not taking a pause! One of the things that the years long acute inventory shortage has brought us is a leveling out of the seasonality of the marketplace. The normal ebbs and flows around spring time, August vacations and the holiday season the last 6 weeks of the year have largely turned to barely observable changes. Inventory has held steady for the last couple of weeks around 1,800 homes. Not great but better than last year at this time when it was down 37% from the 5 year average.
We currently have a .7 months supply of homes for sale and a .8 months supply for rentals. All areas are moving briskly if properly priced and some pockets are en fuego. At this point we are on pace for a 10% bump in prices for 2024. Great for sellers, and extra motivation for buyers to get into the game. Anyone waiting for “rates to drop” is pursuing a failing strategy. The math does not work out. I did a detailed analysis of this in my Dec 18th blog (https://dominicksellshomes.com/2023/12/18/the-real-market-update-27/).
There are ways to position yourself to have a winning strategy on the buying side even in this hot market, not the least of which is working with an agent like me who has been in the business for 35 years and has relationships with many of the listing agents we encounter.
Some other market observations. You can still over price a home. Nationally 34% of homes last month took a price reduction and the figures locally are not far behind.
It’s time to raise the capital gains deduction for home sellers of their principal residence. It has remained unchanged since 1997(!) despite massive price appreciation.
With supply continuing to be the issue, people are looking for creative ways to repurpose other types of property. Office parks have been a focus, many of which are obsolete and/or un-occupied. The problem is they were not designed for things like apartments (bathroom, plumbing, and staircase locations are problematic) so the trend is more towards tear down and rebuild. It’s time for local governments and developers to get together and work creatively on zoning changes to open up re-purposing opportunities.
As always I’m here as a resource for any of your real estate needs to feel free to reach out!
It’s a good life.
Chris
