Showings are already 20.2% higher than they were during the first week of January, which is double what they were last year.  But the NSDCC listings in January are going to be at least 20% fewer, year-over-year.

Last January we had 354 NSDCC listings, and today we have 239, month-to-date.  We going to end up about 25% below last year’s count.

More demand and less supply = max frenzy conditions!

We can hope that the magical April-1st-date-when-seniors-can-take-their-tax-basis-with-them, combined with lower Covid-19 counts will unleash a surge of new supply.

Could it be that potential sellers are purposely waiting for prices to go up higher?

Here’s one example:

I sold this 2-on-1 property for $400,000 in 2002.

My client and I had begun chatting about selling early last year.  At the time, my quote was in the $900,000s, and by the end of summer I was up to $1,200,000. He said he’d think about it.

He ended up listing with a different agent for $1,395,000 in November.

They were going for max money, but the market didn’t quite agree. They ended up selling for $1,187,000.

It’s only one example, but it makes me think that buyers might have some attachment to reality, and that starting with an attractive price in the beginning is the best way of getting it bid up to the moon.