It’s Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. “When Nancy Lam upgraded in January to a home closer to her child’s school in the San Francisco Bay Area, she thought she had plenty of time to list her old house. ‘Six months ago, people were buying homes over-ask and with no appraisal,’ said Ms. Lam’s real-estate agent, Herman Chan of Golden Gate Sotheby’s International Realty. ‘They didn’t even bat an eyelash. Now, it’s like crickets.’ After listing it for $3.95 million in May, they realized they may have miscalculated. After weeks on the market, the house hadn’t been scooped up like they expected. There were no reasonable offers, and no bidding wars. Now, four months and two significant price cuts later, the property is still lingering on the market, asking $3.49 million. ‘It’s crazy,’ she said. ‘We never expected for this to still be on the market. It really caught us by surprise.’”
“The single-family median home price in August was $601,000. That’s down 7.5% from when they peaked at $650,000 in May, according to the Salt Lake Board of Realtors. ‘The bidding wars are over,’ said Steve Perry, president of the Salt Lake Board of Realtors. ‘Offers above asking price and waiving of appraisals have ended. Home buyers have more choices and options when purchasing a house.’”
“The gap in inventory gave sellers almost complete control over the housing market for years, says Bic DeCaro, an agent in Great Falls: ‘Almost overnight, that just stopped when mortgage rates went up. It went from multiple offers to a few offers to often just one.’ ‘As soon as the market shifted, buyers began to get really picky about the condition of a home,’ says Melinda Estridge, an agent in Bethesda. ‘Now that rates are higher, a lot of buyers had to lower their price range a little bit, and that makes them more concerned that they get the best value they can.’”
“The housing market in southwest Florida is starting to cool off. ‘We’ve gone from 400 homes last year to about 1,400 now,’ said Adrian Waring, a local realtor. ‘We’re still seeing price reductions. About 13% had a price reduction last week.’”
“Kathleen O’Toole, a Kennebunk-based realtor is seeing slow changes in the market. Many sellers are still listing their homes at peak-pandemic prices, which is no longer feasible, she said, so price adjustments are more common. ‘Interest rates will continue to force the hand of sellers to lower the prices and be more realistic,’ she said. She’s also noticed more homes listed as ‘back on the market,’ which she attributes to the mortgage rate hikes.”
“The period of the nonstop record-breaking growth of home prices is over—and it’s time for sellers to accept that reality. The average listing price of homes in Phoenix has gone down by 19% in the last year, said Bob Nathan, a broker in North Scottsdale. Four months ago, there were only 3,500 homes available in Maricopa County—America’s fifth largest county, with a population of over 4.5 million. As of this week, there were nearly 20,000 homes for sale. ‘The market is becoming more normal,’ Mr. Nathan said. For sellers in Phoenix and markets like it, that means becoming ‘more realistic’ about pricing expectations.”
“‘If you’re looking at the price per square foot for March or April, that number is going to be far higher than you’re going to be able to achieve for your house at this point,’ said Katie Glaser, an agent with Smith & Associates in Tampa, Florida, which saw its share of homes with a price drop increase to 52.1% in July 2022 from 28.6% in July 2021. Liza Hogan, a broker with Douglas Elliman in Denver, said that sellers who haven’t been able to get a satisfactory offer within 20 days should consider a price reduction. ‘If you don’t get full price over the first few days, then you’re not getting it,’ Ms. Hogan said.”
“‘A lot of sellers are wanting to look backward,’ said Tim Nelson, an agent with Willis Allen in La Jolla, California, an affluent town outside of San Diego, where two-thirds of closings in the last 30 days have sold at a discount from the original list price. ‘They want to think that their values are consistent with the market of three to six months ago, and we try to advise them that that ship has sailed,’ he said.”
“Last month in King County, pending sales were down about 27% compared with the same time last year. Although King County’s $899,999 median home price was still up from 2021, it dropped nearly 10% from May to August. With fewer buyers competing for every home, houses are sitting on the market longer.Sellers are dropping prices and chipping in on closing costs. Buyers are able to hold on to their right to an inspection and other contingencies. With interest rates still ticking up, even those who can qualify for a loan may not be comfortable with the price. ‘Just because you can afford a $4,500 payment,’ said Sally Li, a broker with Beacon Hill Realty, ‘doesn’t mean you really need to go there.’”
“Taylor Walick leads the nearly 27,000-member MetroTex Association of Realtors and says it’s still a good time to sell homes because current buys are serious. ‘What we’re seeing from our sellers is that there may be a bit of inflated confidence there,’ he said. ‘We are seeing a lot of price deductions.’”
“Steve and Sylvia El-Helou built their house in Stoney Point in 2015, but now the couple want to liquidate that house and two other properties in Chatham-Kent, take their two daughters, and hit the road in an RV. The spacious house has been on the market for a month. The price has been reduced from $1.2 million to $1.1 million and not a soul has come to see it. ‘Personally, I just thought with the market the way things were going that it would sell fairly quickly,’ said Sylvia. The family needs to sell the house and two other properties to finance the odyssey. ‘This has been the biggest thorn or hurdle that we have to cross,’ said Steve.”
“At the peak of the house selling boom in March the average selling price in the Windsor Essex area was $723,739. It was down to $520,634 last month, according to the Windsor Essex County Association of Realtors. ‘My kids are all grown up now so me and my wife don’t need a house with all this room and we just want to downsize, but we can’t go anywhere,’ said Mario Tersigni, who says they have dropped the asking price from $499,000 to $399,000.”
“The German property market has been growing without interruptions since 2009; however, according to Hamburg-based Gewos Institute for Urban, Regional, and Housing Research, this period of rapid growth could end. Meanwhile, Welt’s Holger Zschaepitz proclaimed the German housing boom is over, showing a chart of Germany’s major real estate lender, Hypoport group, shares plummeting 34% after they suspended their full-year forecast. ‘This chart highlights that the housing boom in Germany is over. The real estate lender Hypoport shares plunged as much as 34%, the most ever, after the group suspended its forecast for the full year, saying residential mortgage finance customers are holding back on property purchases.’”
“New Zealand property prices have dropped for a fifth consecutive month, newly-released figures from Trade Me suggest. The figures show the national average asking price saw another drop in August – falling 1 percent to $899,200. New Zealand’s average asking price hadn’t been below $900,000 since October 2021. ‘Prices are falling as a direct result of sky-high supply paired with comparatively low demand, taking the pressure off buyers and forcing sellers to lower their price expectations,’ Trade Me Property sales director Gavin Lloyd said.”
“Trade Me data also showed Wellington, Nelson/Tasman, Taranaki and West Coast were the regions that saw the largest monthly decreases in average asking prices. Additionally, the data showed the number of properties for sale across the country had soared year-on-year by 76 percent. The Trade Me data showed the average asking price in Wellington was $875,700, down nearly 4 percent in a month. Supply in the region was up 98 percent year-on-year. In Wellington City specifically, its average asking price fell to $1.003 million, Trade Me said. That was a month-on-month drop of 4 percent.”