Three Things That Are Good For Today’s Buyers
Despite the recent changes with mortgage rates rising there are some positive things occurring out in the market that is good news for today’s buyers. Let’s not forget that the market had been going strong for years but primarily in the favor of sellers. With the recent cooling there are now some benefits for buyers looking to purchase their next home. Here they are.
More Homes On The Market
When the pandemic hit we experienced extremely low housing supply while buyer demand had increased even more. This caused the perfect storm of making buying even more difficult. Now that has changed. According to a statistic shared by Calculated Risk, inventory levels have increased by nearly 40% for the last week in October compared to the same period last year. While it still is more of a seller’s market, this helps when looking for your new home.
Bidding Wars Have Cooled
We all know the stories of how challenging it was to purchase a home with competing offers and waiving of inspections and the like in the past couple of years. However, today the temperature has cooled. With more options available to buyers that has eased the competition making it easier to be the winning bidder.
More Negotiating Power
Adding to the less competition benefit, this also means buyers will have more negotiating power. This will help with the obvious things like an agreed upon purchase price, but this also means fewer buyers will skip the important steps in the home buying process like inspections or other important contingencies. In fact, a recent survey from realtor.com confirms more sellers are accepting offers that include contingencies these days. According to that report, 95% of sellers said buyers requested a home inspection, and 67% negotiated with buyers on repairs as a result of the inspection findings.
In the end buyers will still face some challenges these days but at the same time some of the challenges that had been troubling in recent years have been easing. Contact me today if you are looking to begin your home search and allow me to help!