Do We Care How Many Homes Are Selling, Or More About Their Sales Prices?


Do We Care How Many Homes Are Selling, Or More About Their Sales Prices?
By Scott Rogers • July 12, 2023
Each month I publish a comprehensive report on our local housing market. A few years back, after I published a report showing that sales had risen by _% and prices had risen by _%, one of my past clients shared an interesting perspective. He said, I don't care if there are 20% more home sales, or 20% fewer home sales this year... what I care about is the prices that were paid for those homes! I get his point. If home values rose 3% per year over a 10 year period, would you, as an individual homeowner, care if the number of homes selling for year bounced back and forth from 500 to 700 to 400 to 800? Probably not. You might find it interesting to see so much variation in the number of homes selling per year - but you'd mainly be focused on how the prices of those homes changed over time. I'll publish my latest market report later this week if all goes well, and it will likely include statistics somewhere along the lines of... Home Sales Decline 15% - 20% Median Sales Prices Rise 10% So, far fewer homes selling... but at much higher prices. Circling back around to my client's point... will we care? Should we care? If continue to see fewer and fewer home sales per year over the next two to three years... do we care about that decline, if home prices keep on rising? Existing homeowners probably wouldn't care. The number of homes selling per year wouldn't seem to impact them much. Home sellers would likely be glad. Fewer homes selling means less competition -- so long as inventory levels stay relatively low. But (wannabe) home buyers, yeah, they won't be thrilled to see a decline in the number of homes selling. That decline means there are fewer homes that they can attempt to buy - assuming that inventory levels stay relatively low. So, if the number of homes that sell continues to decline, but prices continue to rise, will we care? It depends on who the "we" is. Receive Updates by Email Recent Articles: There Are Plenty Of Types Of Houses That Exist That Just Are Not Available To Purchase Home Sales By Price Range In The City Of Harrisonburg Are You Compromising On Aspects Of Your Next Home That You Can Or Cannot Change Later? How Much Slower Are The Winter Months In Our Local Housing Market? Rockingham County and New Home Sales Drive Surge in Area Housing Market Find The Balance Between Optimistic And Realistic Home Pricing Room Size Is Difficult To Understand Solely From Real Estate Photos How Much Would You Value Not Having To Prepare Your Home For Showings? One Out Of Four Homes Is Taking Longer Than A Month To Sell Consider The Cost Of Your Planned Renovations When Planning Your Offer
Have any questions? Contact Scott Rogers at 540-578-0102 or scott@funkhousergroup.com
Based on information from the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Association of REALTORS® or its MLS, for the period Jan 1, 2000 through Nov 21, 2024 (unless otherwise noted).
Comments (0) or Subscribe