There are signs the red-hot, pandemic-era housing market is starting to cool, and that means conditions are shifting for buyers and sellers.To understand what’s happening today, realtor Melissa Quade with Coldwell Banker Realty in El Dorado Hills said it helps to look at where things stood just a few short years ago.“Twenty-nineteen, we actually started to see a little bit of a balancing act,” Quade explained, with buyers and sellers on a more even playing field.Then the pandemic hit and nobody knew what to expect.Soon, it became clear that working from home was a new reality, and buyers began looking for places that could be both home and office.“Buyer demand rose incredibly high,” Quade said. “There just wasn’t enough inventory for the buyers.”People sold homes in pricier markets and scooped up available home inventory in the greater Sacramento area.“Your typical buyer who needs an 80% or 90% loan, they were getting beat out time and time again,” Quade said. “It was really incredibly frustrating for typical buyers.”Local sellers gained an upper hand quickly.“Sellers were very, very spoiled here over the last couple of years,” Quade said.The tide is turning with major economic uncertainty at the national level, shifting and slowing the market, according to Quade.The Federal Reserve’s three-quarters of a percent hike in the interest rate on Wednesday, in an effort to stem inflation, will mean different things for both potential buyers and sellers.“It’s not the hottest seller’s market that it was over the last couple of years,” Quade said. “I wouldn’t go so far to say that it is a buyer’s market, yet. I would say it is more of a balanced market.”So, she’s offering points to consider for those entering the housing market.“Sellers: You can’t overprice anymore. You can’t expect the moon,” she said. “You can’t expect you’re gonna get the cash buyer waiving all contingencies.”As for buyers? Quade said that although competition has eased, interest rates will affect their purchasing power.“Try to wrap your brain around the fact that interest rates have gone up,” she said. “We’re going to have to get comfortable with the fact that this is the new normal with regard to interest rates.”Another indicator there’s a shift happening in the real estate market: Realtors are starting to see many more active listings compared to pending sales.Putting that in perspective, when the market was super hot, there were just as many pending sales as there were active listings.
There are signs the red-hot, pandemic-era housing market is starting to cool, and that means conditions are shifting for buyers and sellers.
To understand what’s happening today, realtor Melissa Quade with Coldwell Banker Realty in El Dorado Hills said it helps to look at where things stood just a few short years ago.
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“Twenty-nineteen, we actually started to see a little bit of a balancing act,” Quade explained, with buyers and sellers on a more even playing field.
Then the pandemic hit and nobody knew what to expect.
Soon, it became clear that working from home was a new reality, and buyers began looking for places that could be both home and office.
“Buyer demand rose incredibly high,” Quade said. “There just wasn’t enough inventory for the buyers.”
People sold homes in pricier markets and scooped up available home inventory in the greater Sacramento area.
“Your typical buyer who needs an 80% or 90% loan, they were getting beat out time and time again,” Quade said. “It was really incredibly frustrating for typical buyers.”
Local sellers gained an upper hand quickly.
“Sellers were very, very spoiled here over the last couple of years,” Quade said.
The tide is turning with major economic uncertainty at the national level, shifting and slowing the market, according to Quade.
The Federal Reserve’s three-quarters of a percent hike in the interest rate on Wednesday, in an effort to stem inflation, will mean different things for both potential buyers and sellers.
“It’s not the hottest seller’s market that it was over the last couple of years,” Quade said. “I wouldn’t go so far to say that it is a buyer’s market, yet. I would say it is more of a balanced market.”
So, she’s offering points to consider for those entering the housing market.
“Sellers: You can’t overprice anymore. You can’t expect the moon,” she said. “You can’t expect you’re gonna get the cash buyer waiving all contingencies.”
As for buyers? Quade said that although competition has eased, interest rates will affect their purchasing power.
“Try to wrap your brain around the fact that interest rates have gone up,” she said. “We’re going to have to get comfortable with the fact that this is the new normal with regard to interest rates.”
Another indicator there’s a shift happening in the real estate market: Realtors are starting to see many more active listings compared to pending sales.
Putting that in perspective, when the market was super hot, there were just as many pending sales as there were active listings.
