A report from KVUE in Texas. “As Austin-area housing inventory rises, Realtors are seeing signs of the market cooling off a bit. ‘Some sellers are doing more moderate price drops,’ said Ian Grossman, Realtor at Douglas Elliman Real Estate. ‘Some are getting a little more aggressive and dropping their price $25,000, $50,000, $100,000 just to attract more interest.’ He said homes went from selling in a couple of days to sitting on the market for a couple of weeks or even over a month, which he said was normal pre-pandemic, but it’s making sellers nervous.”
The Sentinel Colorado.”‘The numbers reflect what REALTORS are seeing in Adams and Arapahoe County where home sales have slowed, there is more inventory, fewer, if any bidding wars, and generally pricing is not exceeding list price,’ said local agent Sunny Banka. ‘It is clear that sellers are realizing now might be the highest price they will get for their real estate in the near future and home prices are seeing some adjustments as the interest rate increase. The price you may have received in March, isn’t likely to be the price you would get today.’”
City Weekly in Utah. “‘Homebuyers should be happy. Interest rates have dropped below 6% for 30-year mortgages. And inventory is up to pre-pandemic levels, with 150% more homes on the market than a few years ago. Surely, you’ve noticed ‘for sale’ signs going up like crazy?”
“You have much more to choose from, and some buyers are actually being able to purchase at ask or below asking price with the market adjusting. Markets around the country are seeing huge price adjustments, to wit: Nearly half (47.8%) of homes for sale in Provo had a price drop in May, Salt Lake City saw 45.8% of listings reduce prices, and Ogden had a 42.6% drop. This isn’t just in Utah—it’s happening in Denver, Portland, Philadelphia, Sacramento and all over the U.S.”
Bangor Daily News in Maine. “Some 8 percent of pending home sales contracts in the Portland area fell through in June, less than the national average of 15 percent and less than the highest in New England, 14.8 percent in the New Haven, Connecticut, metropolitan area, according to Redfin. The news comes on the heels of other data from Redfin showing 7.1 percent of its 852 active listings have had price drops in the Portland area from May 30 to June 26 compared with the same four weeks last year.”
“In Cape Elizabeth, two houses came back onto the market last week after prospective buyers backed out when they discovered problems during inspections, real estate agent Bethany Angle, owner of Angle Associates, said. ‘They probably got cold feet,’ she said. ‘It’s a really tough market.’”
From WJAX in Florida. “Jacksonville’s red-hot housing market has cooled in recent weeks. Redfin data shows the city is fifth in the nation, with a quarter of pending home sales falling out of contract. The metro comes in after Port St. Lucie, Cape Coral, Lakeland and Las Vegas, Nevada. ‘People are freaked out. Buying a house for three, four-hundred thousand at 3% versus 7% if you’re getting a mortgage, your payments are double now. So, it’s like a lot of people are having to pause,’ realtor Mike Boyle said.”
The Daily Journal in California. “San Mateo County’s real estate market is slowing, with June marking the third consecutive month of decline in home values and the first in years to see prices not increase from the year prior. Median selling prices for single-family homes in the county were $2.05 million last month, the same as June last year and a dip from $2.25 million in April, according to real estate database MLSListings. It’s the effect of more homes being listed as some sellers fear a downturn and less competition from buyers, who are finding they are unable to afford what they could earlier in the year, local real estate agents report.”
“South San Francisco Realtor Wilson Leung reported his average sale prices were down 10% from their peak earlier in the year, and while homes previously consistently sold in less than two weeks, they now take longer. He said while it’s common for inventory to increase in the summer months, recent figures are outside of seasonal norms. Leung added, sellers who don’t sell now should expect to wait at least a few years for the market to rebound. ‘I think the market gets worse from here,’ he said. ‘How much worse, I don’t know.”
“‘I think we’re pretty much done with over-asking offers these days, and if they are, it has to be quite the special property,’ said Marla Perego, a San Carlos Realtor and president-elect of the San Mateo County Association of Realtors. She described a home sold recently in Redwood Shores that went for 90% of list price after receiving just one offer, a contrast to months ago when it might have sparked a bidding war.”
From KREM 2. “North Idaho realtors told me this single family home in spirit lake would have gone under contract within a week if it was listed in February or march of this year. But now, that’s not the case. Homes like these are being listed for longer. Realtors say its not a bad thing, but buyers and sellers are having a tough time adopting the change. Realtor Kellie Hanna said today’s market is at a stand still. ‘Buyers are losing their power,’ Hanna said. ‘Sellers aren’t quite ready to drop the prices.’”
“Hanna said sellers are also struggling with change. ‘Sellers are panicking a bit,’ Hanna said. ‘Compared to even in January, a home would go on the market, we would get multiple offers, above asking and the home would go pending in a week. We’re not seeing that now.’”
“She said sellers need to continue to adjust to the reality of the market and price their homes accordingly. ‘People are starting to realize that they can’t get that and they’re dropping and dropping their prices,’ Hanna said. She said looking at housing data Tuesday, she saw over 100 price changes. According to the Coeur d’Alene Association of Realtors, between April and May 2022, the number of home listings increased by 58%. Despite this, the number of homes sold is down 15%, compared to May 2021.”
The Globe and Mail. “The rapid downturn in Canada’s housing market is restoring a sense of calm to buyers who no longer need to fear being sucked into the whirling vortex of bidding wars. But now that prices are sliding, some buyers regret the outlandish bids they made during the early spring frenzy. East of Toronto, Durham Region has seen dizzying price jumps in the past couple of years. Detached houses in family-friendly communities were relatively affordable at the start of the pandemic. Now ‘days on market’ are rising and price cuts are common. The swift turnabout is unnerving some sellers.”
“Shawn Lackie, agent with Coldwell Banker R.M.R. Real Estate, says buyers had 1,414 active listings to choose from last month compared with the unusually light inventory of 712 in June of 2021. His advice to sellers coming to the market now is to be patient and work with any offers they get. ‘Your first offer is typically your best offer,’ he says ‘Even if it has conditions, work with them.’”
“The Durham market reached a pinnacle in February, when the average price hit $1,228,990. In June the average price had fallen about 20 per cent to $972,354. Some doleful buyers these days are asking for an abatement in price to reflect the current market, says Mr. Lackie, adding that the sellers must then decide if they will renegotiate. Mr. Lackie says houses listed in February and March with asking prices of $799,000 in the Courtice area were routinely selling for between $1.15-million and $1.2-million as buyers lobbed bids $300,000 to $500,000 above the asking price.”
“Now buyers approaching the closing date for a property they bought in the spring can see average prices in the area have tumbled. If they estimate the price of the house they agreed to purchase has dropped by $260,000, for example, they might be tempted to forfeit the $60,000 deposit they gave and walk away, Mr. Lackie says. In that scenario, the sellers will likely put the house back on the market. If they end up selling for less, they may pursue legal action against the original buyer.”
“People moved to the suburbs where they could find that large backyard, and now areas such as York Region in the 905 area code have cooled off dramatically. In King Township, for example, the average price dropped to $2.083-million in June from $3.218-million in February as months of inventory swelled to 2.3 from 2.0 over that time. Only 21 properties changed hands in King in June compared with 86 new listings.”