As the housing market cools off, buyers have “room to breathe”
As the housing market cools off, buyers have “room to breathe”
You only have to look at mortgage interest rates to know which way the wind is blowing. Rates are approaching 7% for a 30-year fixed mortgage — higher than they’ve been in about two decades.
But for buyers who can afford it, the market’s slowdown could be leading to a slightly less stressful experience.
When Lauren Piner started working as a real estate agent in Florence, South Carolina, last year, it was exhausting.
“If we saw a house pop on the market, we would be running out the door like we were on fire — that day, sprinting through the house and then making an offer if they liked it,” Piner said.
But in recent months, the pace has slowed down. “They really can, like, go home and sleep on it and talk to their lender, talk to their family. Buyers have a little room to breathe now.”
Listings are staying on the market for about 19 days, according to Jeff Tucker at real estate site Zillow. That’s compared to a week or less in the spring.
“Homes are taking a lot longer to sell than almost at any point so far in the pandemic,” he said. And that has an effect on prices.
“When sellers go one weekend after another without receiving an offer, they start to worry that maybe they priced their home too high,” Tucker said.
More than 27% of listings on Zillow last month had a price cut — a new high.
Even after an offer is accepted, buyers are in a better position than before. Over the last two years, fierce competition resulted in many buyers waiving inspections and rushing into escrow, said Lawrence Yun with the National Association of Realtors.
“But today, with calmer market conditions, the home inspection is being insisted upon,” Yun said.
The results of the inspection can lead to a new round of negotiations, per Tim Manickam, an agent who recently worked with a seller in Portland, Oregon.
“The buyer came back with a laundry list of things that my seller was willing to do and got done,” he said. “Buyers are asking for repairs, they’re asking for closing costs. That’s becoming much more the norm.”
That is, it’s becoming the norm … again.
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