Real Estate Eases into Normal

Normal is Changing
If there is anything that we have been forced to accept it is that normal is never normal when your market has encountered any major disruption.

What is common, maybe not normal, is the curtailed number of homes for sale, specifically single-family existing homes.

The recent information put out by realtor.com states, “The inventory of homes actively for sale in the 50 largest U.S. metros overall decreased by 20.7% over last year in August, a large slowdown in the rate of decline compared to last month’s 28.1% decrease.”

In August, the site reported that the average time a home stayed on market (days on market) in August was 39 days. That translates into a contraction of approximately 25%.

Within the 50 largest real estate markets domestically, that number fell to 33 days from 45 days back in 2020.

The New York metro area saw that number increase by 5 days, year-over-year.

Media Listing Price Declines
The site also noted that the average active listing price dipped month-to-month in August to just $380,000 from $385,000 in July. This was the fourth month in a row when the annual growth rate has decreased and the first month since July 2020 when the annual growth rate dipped below double-digits.

Mortgage Rates
Still, mortgage rates appear to be stable, for the time being, with the Freddie Mac fixed rate for a 30-year loan dropping 2 basis points to 2.86%. The inflation meter keeps rising, eating away at the buyer’s wallet, and thus affecting their overall buying power. Higher prices are affecting everything from food, apparel, prescription drugs, furniture cars and gasoline are squeezing monthly budgets and taking a bigger bite from worker paychecks.

Seasonal home purchases may see a bump in activity as we enter what is seen as a sweet spot for home buyers. The site posted that, “In the largest metro areas, such as Los Angeles, Boston, New York City, Denver, Portland, and Minneapolis, the best week comes earlier, during the week of September 12-18.”