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Springtime—A Blooming Housing Market

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

by Tim Hart

Home inventory is reaching its lowest point since 1999. This is stabilizing home prices in many markets, and since buyer traffic is continuing to pick up, multiple offers and bidding wars are going to become the common state of things. Many sellers still remain underwater while buyers are ready to buy, causing the housing inventory to continuously shrink. Currently, there is a 4.2-month supply of existing homes for sale, down from January’s 4.5-month supply, according to data from NAR.

Blooming Housing Market

“Buyer traffic is continuing to pick up, while seller traffic is holding steady," Lawrence Yun, the National Association of REALTORS®’ chief economist says. "In fact, buyer traffic is 40 percent above a year ago, so there is plenty of demand but insufficient inventory to improve sales more strongly. We've transitioned into a seller's market in much of the country."

Buyers and sellers alike are finding themselves in better positions then they found themselves at last year at this time. Price gains are being counter-balanced by low mortgage rates, and it is shifting to a seller’s market…. But it is not all good news.

Unemployment remains high. Recession threats still loom at large. As you read the articles on the heating up of the housing market, just keep the larger picture in mind too. We are still far from normal.

Will housing market's revival last?

Housing heats up, but far from normal

ATHOMEINBOZEMAN

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Today's Real Estate: It's A Race to the Finish Line

Friday, June 15, 2012

by Tim Hart

Real Estate always has its challenges. When it is doing poorly, buyers are struggling to finance their dream. When news turns positive, like in today’s market, when even with the market getting healthier by the day, the challenge is now high competition. A shortage of good homes in a market that is primed for buyers leads to intense multiple off situations in nearly every transaction.

“Would-be buyers are packing open houses and scrambling to make offers on properties before they are even listed. Bidding wars are erupting. And real estate agents are vying fiercely to represent the few sellers that do exist. Housing inventory has sunk to levels not seen since the bubble years. The number of American homes with a "for sale" sign hit 2.5 million in April, the lowest number for an April since 2006, according to the National Assn. of Realtors.”

The sharp drop in inventory paired with the record low interest rates have proved to be effective in stabilizing some of the hardest hit markets in the US (Southland, Vegas, Phoenix, and Miami). Furthermore, the dreaded wave of foreclosures that was predicted to hit the market with a sucker punch has not yet come and with fewer and fewer borrowers entering default, it is starting to look like it may never materialize.

So on this Friday, exactly halfway through the year, remind yourself even as you struggle through highly stressful and competitive offers, this is a problem of a healthier market compared to where we sat last year.

Source: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-inventory-20120610,0,1637144.story

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