Analysts say U.S. residential real estate is in a seller’s market and that homes are still moving fast despite a winding down from the transactions volumes seen over recent months. Sales are quickest in Las Vegas, San Antonio and Sacramento, according to the latest data from Zillow. Experts believe the continued fast pace of sales is being driven by a decline in inventory that creates immediacy for buyers and investors who want to get into the market while mortgage rates are still and low and prices haven’t yet risen too much. For more on this continue reading the following article from TheStreet.
Despite the recent slowdown in housing, homes are still being snapped up at a faster pace than a year earlier.
Homes listed on real estate marketplace Zillow (Z) sold a month faster than a year earlier, with the median time spent on the market declining to 86 days in September, down from 116 days in September 2012.
It has been a sellers’ market in most parts of the country, but nowhere more so than in California. Homes spent as little as 48 days in the San Francisco Bay Area and 59 days in Sacramento, Calif.
Claim up to $26,000 per W2 Employee
- Billions of dollars in funding available
- Funds are available to U.S. Businesses NOW
- This is not a loan. These tax credits do not need to be repaid
Homes moved fastest in Las Vegas, Sacramento and San Antonio.
The data from the National Association of Realtors shows an even tighter market. The median time on the market for existing homes was 50 days in September, down from 70 days a year earlier. Thirty nine percent of the homes sold in less than a month.
Still, the inventory situation is slowly improving, with the time on the market improving from 43 days a month earlier.
"The declining inventory of for-sale homes over the past year naturally creates pressure for buyers to more quickly snap up the inventory that is on the market," said Zillow Chief Economist Dr. Stan Humphries. "Home shoppers in today’s environment need to be prepared to move quickly, with pre-approvals in place and an established sense of what they’re willing to pay for a home. But even though things are moving fast, buyers should resist the urge to enter into bidding wars or pay prices they’re uncomfortable with. We do expect that this need for speed will abate in the near-term as mortgage rates rise and more inventory becomes available because of new construction and declining negative equity."
This article was republished with permission from TheStreet.
