Salah Salah is an award-winning Full-Service Neighborhood Realtor and an invested member of the Mountain House Community. Salah prides himself on his knowledge of local real estate trends, and strives to provide the best service for his clientele.
Happy Holidays, Mountain House Family. I am pleased to bring you the October/ November market update.
As we are nearing the end of the year, we can look back and say it’s been a very interesting year in the Real Estate market. Interest rates have hit historic highs while housing inventory has maintained historic lows, confusing sellers and buyers alike.
I do have good news: mortgage interest rates have been improving recently. We are currently witnessing some of the lowest rates in the past two months. It’s “speculation” at the moment, but many industry experts are optimistic that the rates will continue to improve going into quarters 1 and 2 of the new year.
We are still in a “seller’s market”. Inventory has decreased from the last update. We currently have 8 homes for sale in Mountain House compared to 12 in the previous market update. We have exactly 1 month of standing inventory compared to 1.33 last month. Since the previous update, we just closed on 5 homes at Refined Real Estate. All of our listings have gone pending in the first week, over the asking price and some well over the asking price. Many buyers are still out there searching for homes, but we have noticed a slight dip in buyer activity.
Some homes entering the market with unrealistic expectations are just sitting with little to no movement. As I have said in past articles, that’s a seller and realtor issue, NOT a market issue. This market can confuse many buyers, sellers, and agents. Not all homes are flying off the market well over the asking price. Homes still need to show well, be tastefully presented to the market, and be priced realistically to get the attention of serious buyers.
If you have any questions about this article or our Real Estate market, feel free to contact me anytime. Remember, choosing a Realtor with vast experience listing & selling homes in your local market will put you in the best possible position to navigate these ever-changing Market conditions.
Why Does Inventory Continue To Stay Low?
We are experiencing a rippling effect from the historic low-interest rates during the past few years. Homeowners who purchased or refinanced during that time are less motivated to sell their current or primary home because of the low-interest rates they have. Many of the homes we see hit the market are secondary homes (rentals) or “life events” that are occurring i.e., an unfortunate death, separation/divorce, or work relocation. The interesting part is that when you run the numbers, selling, and buying currently does make sense in many situations. Even though the interest rates are higher than the historic lows.
Home Values
Our Mountain House home values are continuing to fluctuate. The best and most accurate way to get your current home value is to talk with a local agent. Most homeowners are in utter shock at their current home values! In our ever-evolving digital age, most homeowners utilize websites that have algorithms in place to obtain their current home value. Those sites cannot even remotely keep up with this current market and are highly inaccurate in most to all cases. Reaching out to a local and experienced Realtor is going to be the best approach for an accurate home value.
What Is a Buyer’s Market?
A buyer’s market refers to a situation in which changes to the underlying economic conditions that shape “supply and demand.” It means that purchasers have an advantage over sellers in price negotiations. A buyers market occurs when there is six (6) or more months of Inventory supply available.
What is a Neutral Market?
A Neutral market is when we have three to six (3-6) months of inventory supply.
What Is a Seller’s Market?
A seller’s market is a market condition characterized by a shortage of goods available for sale, resulting in pricing power for the seller. A Seller’s Market is a term commonly applied to the property market when low supply meets high demand. A sellers market equals less than three (3) months of inventory supply.
What Does Months Of Inventory Mean?
Months of inventory takes into account the number of homes for sale on the market with recently sold homes and reflects the number of months it would take to sell all homes currently on the market. You can calculate months of inventory by dividing the total number of homes for sale over the number of homes sold in one month. When months of inventory are low, it’s a fast-paced market dominated by buyers and few sellers. When months of inventory are high, there are generally more homes on the market (dominated by sellers) with fewer buyers or sales.
