Across the country, we are seeing that the current housing landscape presents greater home values, low interest rates, and high buyer demand. All of these factors point to the strong market forecasted to continue throughout the rest of the year.
There is, however, one thing that may cause the industry to tap the brakes: an overall lack of housing inventory. Buyer demand naturally increases during the summer months, but the current supply is not keeping up.
Here is a look at what a few industry experts have to say:
Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist at National Association of Realtors
“Imbalance persists for mid-to-lower priced homes with solid demand and insufficient supply, which is consequently pushing up home prices.”
Mark Fleming, Chief Economist of First American
“Market conditions are ripe for increasing home sales with one glaring exception. The supply of homes for sale remains tight, keeping existing home sales below potential.”
Danielle Hale, Chief Economist of Realtor.com
“We’re not seeing as many new listings come up on the market…It was only 18 months ago that the number of homes for sale hit its lowest level in recorded history and sparked the fiercest competition among buyers we’ve ever seen.”
On a local level, Bob Jones at the Dayton Realtors said
“Average sale price climbed ever higher in June, and as has been the case for much of this year, new monthly records were set. The average sale price is the highest on record ever for the Dayton region.
“Sales of single-family and condominium units reported by Dayton REALTORS® in June totaled 1,529, a decline of nine percent from June 2018 sales. Meanwhile, the average price jumped to a record $195,303 and the median price hit a new high at $170,000, increases of six percent and 7.5 percent, respectively.
“Listings submitted in the month of June continued to reflect the tight inventory in the housing market, with 2,041 entries, a drop of five percent from June 2018. For the January-June period, 10,494 listings were entered, a three percent decrease from the same period last year.”
On a micro-level, I just pulled stats for all single family homes in the Dayton City School District, regardless of zip code. I wanted to look at the absorption rate. In an “average” market, we see an absorption rate of 6 months. That means on average it would take 6 months to sell all the homes on the market, if no other homes were listed. As of this writing, there were 302 homes listed for sale, which gives us an absorption rate of 2.4 months. Great news for sellers!
Bottom Line
If you’re thinking of selling, now may be the time. Demand for your house will be strong during a period when there is very little competition, ideally leading to a quick sale and a great return on your investment.
