Multiple Offers Are Returning To The Marketplace
During the real estate sales boom several years ago it was not uncommon for homes to receive multiple offers on their first day on the market. This characterized a surging demand by buyers during the peak years, when everyone wanted to be a part of the game. Today multiple offers are thought to signify an increasing shortage of homes in many parts of the country.
While I would not whole heartily agree that we are facing a shortage of inventory locally, there is ample evidence to show that multiple offers are on the increase. In the past three weeks I have written three purchase contracts, and two of them involved multiple offers which were successfully negotiated. Fellow agents are also talking about encountering multiple bid scenarios. Locally I think multiple bid situations reflect a shortage of properly priced homes that have been readied properly by the sellers.
In many parts of the country inventory levels are declining for several reasons:
– Sellers have been unwilling to come to terms with the reality of prices in the current market and have taken their homes off the market in anticipation of higher prices somewhere down the road. To that point there are some predictions that on a national level the forecast of a 1% downturn in prices is now being forecast into a slight 1% gain in prices for the year.
– The return of investors to the market with all cash offers, also has contributed to quicker sales and a thinning of housing inventory.
– Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and many large banks have been slow to release their backlog of foreclosed properties to the market.
The Wall Street Journal reported this week that in their recent quarterly survey inventory levels in 28 markets that were measured nationwide, all reported that inventory levels are down sharply. At the height of the housing crisis in 2008 there was a 11.1 month supply of inventory, in March that inventory level had fallen to 6.3 months. As of today in Wallingford there is a 9.3 month supply of homes on the market.
A key point for buyers to remember is that a properly priced home that is in market ready condition is likely to attract a lot of interest in today’s market, and that multiple offer scenarios are a situation that you and your agent should be prepared and strategize for.
Wallingford Real Estate – Wallingford, PA 19086
