Stephanie Vitacco, a real estate broker with Equity Union, says that the artificial housing market is over. During the past two years there has been an artificial market, and we have gotten spoiled by this. The bidding wars are over and buyers should “get picky again.”
As the interest rates begin to rise, the homebuying market is slowing down. The market is currently transforming and buyers are slowly getting buying power back. “We were used to getting 10, 20 to 30 offers on a property. Now we’re back to the point where condition matters a whole lot more as well as the floor plan. Buyers are being picky – and they can be picky”, Vitacco said.
According to Redfin this summer a listing spent 19 days on the market which was one day longer than the summer of 2021. “Buyers, who earlier this year had to race to beat the competition, can now take their time touring homes and perhaps even wait to see if sellers drop their price, ” says Daryl Fairweather, Redfin chief economist.
Redfin shows that home prices are falling and less buyers are out there competing for a home. Sellers are now having to lower their home prices and the listings that were selling above asking price decreased. Many professionals in the industry are telling their sellers to price their homes realistically from the start so they will not sit on the market. “The market slowdown is giving buyers more opportunities to negotiate, especially with sellers whose homes have been on the market for a while, ” says Jessica Nelson, a South Carolina real estate agent with Redfin.