Scanning charts and graphs can often give you the quick info you’re looking for, but raw data can also be kind of cold and detached. The best way to really digest any kind of data is to have some context - ideally a story behind the numbers.
Here’s what I can tell you. In 2019, the homes I sold were on the market an average of 60 days. That’s the average of MY sold listings that year. The next year - 2020 - it dropped to 9. Then 6, 9 and 12 for the respective 3 years. That’s a solid run of 4 years where the average time on the market was a week and a half.
Last month, one of my listings went under contract after 72 days on the market - the first time I’ve had a house listed for that long in probably 4 years. Is that bad? No, not really. That’s about 2 1/2 months on the market, which is still technically in the range of a seller’s market. Just one that is easing more towards a balanced market.
Of course, that home went on the market heading into the holidays, so that may also have something to do with it. The pace of the market throttles down to its slowest as the year comes to a close. But already, only 3 weeks into the new year, I can sense the pace picking back up faster than usual.
Two more homes that I listed the week before Christmas just went under contract - one in 26 days and the other in 31 days. If this is any indication, any excess inventory we accumulated over the holidays is already getting nabbed up by anxious buyers.
Another factor I find interesting is that as interest rates rise, buyer sentiment goes something like this: “let’s wait it out and see if things get better.” But as soon as things turn and rates drop, those buyers THEN think “let’s wait it out and see if things get even BETTER!” It is only when rates settle in at a certain number that buyers think “ok, I guess that’s a good as it gets, let’s move.”
And that has happened over the past several weeks. Rates have settled in around 6.5% (give or take) which is better than 8%, so any buyer who has been actively looking over the past 6 months now feels the impetus to get a home under contract.
We’ll see how things shake out next month, but that’s where I see things heading.
