Inventory on Board

The inventory shortage that has played such a significant role in the market has eased somewhat, but persists. GBAR’s housing market report for June showed that the decrease in available single family homes and condos was less than in previous months. Listings fell 14 percent to 3,624 homes for sale in June, while condo availability dropped by 17 percent to 1,658 units on the market.

However, new listings improved significantly year-over-year, with increases of 19 percent for single-family homes and 16 percent for condominiums in June, compared to June 2014. Pending sales also established a new record in June, as homes under contract increased by an impressive 28.8 percent from last June to 1,952. Pending condominium sales were also strong, reflecting the easing of the inventory shortage by rising 25 percent to 1,429, the highest total for any month since May 2005.

Homes are spending slightly more time on the market, following a year-long trend. The average market time had decreased for 28 consecutive months from March 2012 to last June, when single-family homes were on the market for 59 days before an offer was accepted. This June, homes were available for 60 days before an offer was accepted. The time on the market did decrease sharply month-over month from May, when homes were available for 71 days.

Keith Florian, a broker and appraiser at Florian Real Estate Group, agrees that homes are spending more time on the market. “Things are not going $150,000 over asking,” he said. “They’re sitting in the market a little bit longer, they’re usually not going so much over asking or just asking or slightly below asking. If we put in an offer, we’re losing by just a couple thousand dollars on it, not fifty thousand like we were earlier this year or last year. So it’s starting to stabilize.”

Pricing Bonanza

Sellers benefited greatly from the steady increase in prices and the continuing tightness of inventory. The ratio of list price to sale price increased to 99.3 percent in June, the highest such ratio of the millennium and marking the 28th month in a row that the ratio stood at or above 95 percent of asking.

“I think many buyers and many Realtors would be happy to see a market again where a property was on for X and it was selling for X after a period of time instead of selling instantly for X-plus-plus-plus,” said Charles Cherney, a broker at Hammond Residential Real Estate. “That’s not to sell any seller short. Obviously, they want to harvest the best for their sale, but a lot of those sellers are then trying to buy and suddenly they’re in the same soup, which is they have to find a place to live and someone to accept their offer.”

Cherney’s approach to setting a price goes unchanged, whether the market is rocketing upward or at a plateau. Talk with the seller about recent relevant comparable sales and deliberate on the value of their home relative to other properties.

“The challenge is that when the market is this hot and getting hotter, you wonder how high’s the sky,” he said. “I don’t think there’s any difference. It just makes the conversation you’re having about relevant sales more challenging because the market is moving upwards at such velocity. When every seller is thinking to sell for the highest price, you wonder when you jump on just where you jumped on and if you’re jumping on with the price in the right place where it can sell for the most money. You don’t want to leave anything behind.”