Bonnie's Takeaways

Spring selling season has begun and home sales are beginning to pick up in February.  Average home sales are up 10.2% from January but still off 11.8% from last year.  The Average Home Price however jumped 26% to a whopping $399,206, up from $316,903.  This is largely due to the large number and size of Luxury Homes sold in February vs January.   Luxury Home Sales have been off in the past few months but I believe they have returned this year.  Good news for Buyers as the number of new listings rebounded from a low in December of 77 back to a more normal rate for February of 150.  Even though there are 14 fewer active homes for sale, the time it takes to sell a home has leveled out at a median of 33 days and an average of 50.  I believe that this will be the new normal for time to sell a home now that the market is beginning to settle in and stabilize.  A word of caution to Sellers, buyers can be more choosy now and overpriced homes and homes in need of repair are staying on the market much longer and requiring larger and larger price reductions to sell. So make necessary repairs, declutter and clean your home, and listen to your real estate agent before putting your home on the market. Sellers need to pay close attention to comparable homes that are on the market and which ones are selling and which ones are not.  It is still a seller’s market but we are moving towards a more balanced and historical average market this year and well into 2025. Be wary of fear mongering and sensational headlines of doom and disaster.  It is just not in our local foreseeable future. Interest rates are slightly lower than last month but are hanging around the 7% mark.  The market expects rates to drop moderately beginning mid summer and slowly dropping into 2025.  Don’t expect large drops anytime in the foreseeable future. The market expects 3 Federal Reserve rate cuts of ¼ point each by the end of the year and maybe less.   Welcome to the new normal!