Prices remain elevated, days on market has dipped, price reductions are down and properties sold above the asking price, is up.  However, this is lag data telling us what the market was doing 30 days ago and there are indications the market has already shifted.  Inventory continues to climb as do interest rates.

Whether the market has shifted or not, buyers and sellers must understand the fluidity of market conditions and be prepared to adapt.  Act as if the market has already softened for sellers.

Price

The average sold price for all property types remained stable over the last few weeks, tipping $735,000 last week, just slightly off this year’s high of $742,927.

However, the single family home sold price has edged downward over the last 5 weeks, having topped out this year at $829,311 and ending last week at $814,841.  5 weeks in a row of modest decline is statistically significant and is beginning to tell the sign of falling prices.  It is still too soon to arrive at that conclusion, but with interest rates continuing to climb, it’s not unreasonable.

Days on Market

Average days on market took a pretty surprising dip over the last couple weeks, after two weeks of increase.  We ended last week at 23.32 days on average.

I anticipate this to be the close to the low for the year with rising inventory and suppressed buyer activity with higher rates.

Prepare your sellers that days on market is likely to get longer.    

 

 

Sold Price and Price Reductions 

Last year, May ended up with 41.8% of properties selling above the asking price, 40.9% of properties selling below and 17.3% selling at the asking price.

Last week 39.6% of properties sold for over the original asking price versus 38.1% selling below. And setting a record, 22.4% of closed properties sold at the asking price.

We’ll see where the month of May ends up this year.  This is repeating the narrative, but rising interest rates and inventory most likely mean we are close to topping out at homes selling above asking.

But the trend of fewer price reductions continues as an almost baffling statistic.  This could be stubborn sellers or just a patient market.  The next 4 weeks of data will tell, but I expect we begin to see more price reductions in the next 30 days.

Last week ended with only 16.4% of properties experiencing a price reduction, compared to 23.8% last year.

Inventory

Inventory continues to climb topping above 7,000 homes already this year, compared to just 4,600 homes same time last year.

Again, the supply increase with declining buyer demand portends longer days on market and declining prices through year-end.  Prepare your sellers for that most likely changing market condition, knowing and assuring them we are reading the market every week and will make decisions based on data, not guesses.