{"id":4753,"date":"2024-03-05T13:51:42","date_gmt":"2024-03-05T13:51:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/billingsrealtybrokers.paradiseinnovations.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/05\/housing-inventory-just-hit-a-high-not-seen-since-2020-with-more-lower-priced-homes-too\/"},"modified":"2024-03-05T13:51:42","modified_gmt":"2024-03-05T13:51:42","slug":"housing-inventory-just-hit-a-high-not-seen-since-2020-with-more-lower-priced-homes-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/billingsrealtybrokers.paradiseinnovations.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/05\/housing-inventory-just-hit-a-high-not-seen-since-2020-with-more-lower-priced-homes-too\/","title":{"rendered":"Housing Inventory Just Hit a High Not Seen Since 2020\u2014With More Lower-Priced Homes, Too"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Getty Images<\/p>\n

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The spring housing market is shaping up to be a boon for homebuyers looking for more affordable properties.<\/p>\n

A new report by Realtor.com\u00ae<\/a> has found that the number of homes actively for sale in February was 14.8% higher than this same month last year. That\u2019s the fourth straight month of more homes on the market.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the most inventory that we\u2019ve seen year to date since 2020,\u201d says Realtor.com\u00ae<\/a> Chief Economist Danielle Hale<\/strong>. \u201cMore inventory means more choice for buyers.\u201d<\/p>\n

These aren\u2019t musty, picked-over properties either: New listings from home sellers just entering the market shot up by 11.3% in February compared with last year.<\/p>\n

Another refreshing breeze is sweeping through a stale housing market as well: Home price growth has slowed.<\/p>\n

What does this mean for homebuyers and sellers?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe spring housing market could shape up to provide home shoppers with a more plentiful supply of less expensive homes than last year,\u201d says Realtor.com economic data manager Sabrina Speianu<\/strong> in her analysis. Although inventory is still not as plentiful as in the pre-pandemic days, \u201chome shoppers will have more choice, and in particular more choice of lower-priced homes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bouncing mortgage rate factor<\/h2>\n

Yet whether the housing market truly heats up depends on mortgage rates, which have been on a bit of a roller-coaster ride since the fall. They hit an average of 7.79% in the week ending Oct. 26 for 30-year fixed-rate loans, according to Freddie Mac data.<\/p>\n

Mortgage rates dropped abruptly in December after the U.S. Federal Reserve indicated it would be cutting its own short-term interest rates. (While the Fed\u2019s rates and mortgage rates are separate, mortgage rates often follow in the same direction.)<\/p>\n

This led to mortgage rates coming down and stabilizing around 6.6% in the early weeks of the new year. However, the reprieve did not last long. Rates shot back up to 6.94% for the week ending Feb. 28<\/a>, according to Freddie Mac.<\/p>\n

\u201cConsistently strong economic and labor market conditions and an uneven decline in inflation has pushed the Federal Reserve Board into a wait-and-see approach to determine the best timing for future rate cuts, a factor driving increased mortgage rates in late February,\u201d says Speianu.<\/p>\n

Home prices remain relatively steady<\/h2>\n

As the seasons change, so do home prices. They tend to start the year on the lower side and rise as the weather warms up.<\/p>\n

So far, 2024 is shaping up to be no different, with the price of a median home rising about 1.5%, to $415,500 in February compared with $409,500 in January.<\/p>\n

Annually, home price growth has slowed. The median list price ticked up by just 0.3% compared with last year.<\/p>\n

Hale adds that, according to economic forecasts, \u201chome prices will be relatively stable in 2024. We\u2019ll still see the usual seasonal ramp-up, but I don\u2019t expect to see much growth beyond that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another bright spot on the affordability horizon? More homes for sale saw price reductions, with the percentage increasing to 14.6% this year compared with 13.2% last February.<\/p>\n

\u201cA rising share of price reductions suggests that today\u2019s sellers are responding to market conditions and motivated to adjust to find buyers if they find they\u2019ve priced too high initially,\u201d says Hale.<\/p>\n

And while home seller flexibility will vary greatly by market, Hale adds, \u201cHome prices remain high, but the data suggest that buyers may have some room to negotiate when submitting an offer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Where housing inventory is up\u2014and prices down<\/h2>\n

<\/a>A three-bedroom, two-bathroom house for sale in Orlando, FL<\/p>\n

Realtor.com<\/p>\n

Home sellers came out in force this February in large Southern metros, which saw active home listings grow by a whopping 17% on average compared with last year.<\/p>\n

Buyers looking for a bargain in warmer climates well below the median home price are in luck.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn February, the South as a whole has been largely driving the increase in availability of homes priced between $200,000 and $350,000, a price category that saw the most year-over-year growth nationally,\u201d says Speianu.<\/p>\n

Metros that saw the largest increases in the number of homes for sale included Orlando, FL<\/a>, up 38.5%; Miami<\/a>, up 37.4%; and Tampa, FL<\/a>, up 36.3%.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, large Western and Northeastern metros saw a drop in housing inventory in February, by 1.0% and 4.2% on average, respectively.<\/p>\n

Homes spent 61 days on the market in February, three days shorter than last year. Buyers who find a home as spring draws near might not want to hesitate in making an offer.<\/p>\n

The post Housing Inventory Just Hit a High Not Seen Since 2020\u2014With More Lower-Priced Homes, Too<\/a> appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com\u00ae<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Getty Images The spring housing market is shaping up to be a boon for homebuyers looking for more affordable properties. A new report by Realtor.com\u00ae has found that the number of homes actively for sale in February was 14.8% higher than this same month last year. That\u2019s the fourth straight month of more homes on…Read More→<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":4754,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/billingsrealtybrokers.paradiseinnovations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/billingsrealtybrokers.paradiseinnovations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/billingsrealtybrokers.paradiseinnovations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/billingsrealtybrokers.paradiseinnovations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/billingsrealtybrokers.paradiseinnovations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4753\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/billingsrealtybrokers.paradiseinnovations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/billingsrealtybrokers.paradiseinnovations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/billingsrealtybrokers.paradiseinnovations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/billingsrealtybrokers.paradiseinnovations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}