August 2024 | Market Updates
Long story short, the market is SLOW.
We had 7% fewer listings hit the market in August than in July and 5% fewer than August last year. Even with the low number of new listings, we have more inventory than we’ve had in a long time. We are sitting at over 2.5 months of inventory (meaning if we got 0 new listings and continued to sell the homes at the rate we are selling, we would be out of homes to sell in 2.5 months). It’s apparent that homes are sitting on the market for longer.
At 2.6 months of inventory, we are still, technically, in a SELLER’S market. However, after being in the extreme seller’s market we’ve seen over the last 4 years, it just doesn’t feel like that to most homeowners that have their homes on the market right now. Homes are sitting on the market for substantially longer as buyers are mostly “kicking tires” out there. That, combined with the fact that rates are in the low 6% range (lower than we’ve seen for the last year or so), gives me some pause. Buyers have more options to choose from and the ability to get a lower, more affordable, monthly payment than we’ve seen in the last 10+ months. You’d think that we’d start to see homes fly of the market. This is not the case.
Homes are sitting on the market for an average of 27 days before going into contract. We are used to seeing that length of time on market in the winter months, but surely not in August! Sellers are frustrated and buyers are taking their sweet time.
Our median sales price stayed flat in August which is nice. We are at a 6% YOY increase, which as you know, is a little higher than I’d like to see in this volatile market we seem to be in. We are basically in recovery and we need that number to sit around 3 or 4% in my opinion.
The Fed cutting rates is going to be crucial over the next 2 quarters and I’m extremely excited for the election to be over! Hopefully clearing up some uncertainty over the next few months get byers off the fence and back to submitting offers.
As for now, in my opinion, it’s a great time to buy. Buyers are seeing less competition with more options and a lower rate than was possible a year ago. Sellers, on the other hand, will need to remain patient. The right buyer will come along and as long as you are priced correctly, you can stay positive knowing that everyone else is sitting on the market for a lengthy amount of time with you.