A columnist reflected on history to help measure whether it’s a seller’s market, or a buyer’s market. I like it!
House-hunting’s transformation includes several market trends including people moving less often, consumers accessing detailed market info, near-instant cash buyers and tighter lending standards. Maybe the buyer/seller-market math should morph, too.
From 1990 through 2006, just before the bubble burst, California was a “buyer’s market” in 49 percent of all months and a “seller’s market” 17 percent of the time — using the traditional 6-month/3-month template and Realtor data.
Looking at the past 12 post-crash years — assuming you’d want to match that pattern — a buyer’s market would be 3.25 months-plus of supply and a seller’s market would be 2.25 months or less.
This evolving gap in homebuying supply is another reminder of today’s steep house-hunting challenges.
Link to the Full Article with dataCurrently there are 359 active detached-home listings between La Jolla and Carlsbad, and last month there were 140 sales. The 359/140 = 2.56, which, by the new definition, is pretty close to a seller’s market!
