Any body noticing the Housing Market is slowly turning into a Buyer's market? (2%, prices)

[jimmybirdie]

At least in Orange County, CA, I am seeing inventory at a much higher level compared to last year. List price is still high but I see more and more price reduction. Hopefully we can see a meaningful 5% to 10% price reduction in the next 12 months. What do you think?

[AZJoeD]

Not in our area.

[butterflies1375]

Definitely not the case here.

[NewYorkiforniainHouston]

Not the case here either. I hope the seller's market hangs on for another year as I want to sell and downsize lol

edit: I moved to Houston from San Diego in 2001 after selling my home there. I see how much the home prices have rocketed in CA and think "dammit I should have hung out a few more years in SD"

[jimmybirdie]

I assume that you are in areas where median price are till low. In OC median price exceeded $630,000 and I doubt that our income is that much higher than your cities. In OC, home price increase since 2011 has far exceeded wage gain. Less than 25% of households can buy a median price home.

[Lacerta]

Not here either. We still have very little inventory and most buyers are getting beat out over and over on offers, and most houses are selling at or over asking price with multiple offers.

A buyers market is generally considered to be anything over 6 month's worth of inventory (6 months is stable, and under 6 months is a sellers market). We are at 2.3 months worth of inventory overall, and 1.7 months worth in the price range the vast majority of people are at here (under $250k)

Definitely still a strong sellers market here.

[thatlldobae]

Not sure about market here in 31602

[Lacerta]

Originally Posted by jimmybirdie

I assume that you are in areas where median price are till low. In OC median price exceeded $630,000 and I doubt that our income is that much higher than your cities. In OC, home price increase since 2011 has far exceeded wage gain. Less than 25% of households can buy a median price home.

Yeah, $630,000 is literally the top 2% here. 987 single family homes sold in my in my county last month. Only 19 were over $630k. But our median income is usually one of the very lowest in the country. Household median is under $50k (note that is household, not individual).

[jghorton]

The market here is still rising (Destin - 2nd home market). But, as soon as sellers reach the peak price/s that buyers are willing to pay, things will slow down and inventory will start remaining on the market longer.

But, isn't that pretty much how 'supply and demand' works in different housing markets? The only time ALL housing prices go up or down at the same time is when something other than the 'housing market' is driving things up/down.

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by jimmybirdie

At least in Orange County, CA, I am seeing inventory at a much higher level compared to last year. List price is still high but I see more and more price reduction. Hopefully we can see a meaningful 5% to 10% price reduction in the next 12 months. What do you think?

If "inventory" has increased but prices are "still high" I would not really call that a "buyers market".(It may be driven by flipper or other speculators...) Even if there are modest "price reductions" on homes that were grossly overpriced that is not so much a shift away from the rather overheated "sellers market" that may have encouraged folks to hope for unrealistically high prices. A "normal" market should see a nice balance between fair asking prices and buyers paying close to list in a reasonable length of time -- for most price points that is generally around 60 days...

OTOH if the TIME ON MARKET for the inventory rises SO MUCH that sellers who NEED to need homes in good condition that they are FORCED to sell below prior selling prices THAT would be hard to argue as other than a "buyer's market"...