• The current tax rate in the City of Harrisonburg is $0.86 per $100 of assessed value. 
   
• Over the past (12) months the median sales price of homes in the City of Harrisonburg has been $225,000. 
   
• If a home that sold for $225K was assessed for $225K the annual tax bill at the current rate ($0.86) would be $1,935.
   
  
• The owner of this median priced house would thus, theoretically, pay about $161.25 per month in real estate taxes.

1. There were 21% more home sales this April than last April.  This is at least partially due to the fact that last April was affected by Covid, with fewer buyers having contracted on homes to purchase in March, and thus fewer home sales closing in April.
    
2. There are 19% more year-to-date (January through April) home sales this year compared to last year!
    
3. Over the past year, 1,566 homes have sold in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County -- a 15% increase over the prior year.  Many more buyers are buying homes "these days" than in the "recent past."
    
4. The median sales price of homes that have sold in the past year is 9% higher than the prior year.  Translating that into dollars -- the median sales price of homes in our area is currently $249,900 -- up from $229,000 just one year prior.
    
5. Homes have sold 56% faster this past year (median of 7 days on the market) compared to the prior year (median of 16 days on the market). 
   

1. Smile.
    
   
2. Still take time to prepare well, make sure to price appropriately, and market your home thoroughly.
    
3. Get ready for a rush of showings.
    
4. Enjoy the process of likely choosing a buyer from multiple offers with highly favorable terms.

1. Grimace? Cry? Put on a tough face?
    
2. Get prequalified ASAP.
    
3. Look at listings on the first day they hit the market and be ready to make a rapid decision.
    
4. Thoughtfully craft your offer and its pricing and contingencies to try to balance making a wise decision -- with actually securing a contract to buy a house.
   

• The properties featured above are under construction at Congers Creek, a new townhouse community on Boyers Road just a short walk / jog / ride / drive from the hospital.  Of the 26 townhouses to be built, all but two are now under contract!
   
• You can download the full PDF of charts and graphs from this month's market report here.
   
• This is the time of year where you may be giving some thought about whether you will sell your home this spring or summer.  Email (scott@hhtdy.com) or call / text me (540-578-0102) if you'd like to set up a time to meet or chat.
  

1. There were 137 home sales in March 2021 which was 25% higher than last March!
    
2. Home sales in the first quarter of 2021 were 18% higher than in 2020!  (I am going to run out of exclamation marks soon!)
    
3. Over the past year there have been 1,541 home sales, a 12% increase from the prior year when there were only 1,374 sales.
    
4. The median sales price in the first quarter of 2021 was $248,700 -- which was a 11% increase over the first quarter of 2020 when the median sales price was only $225,000.  That is an increase over $20K in a year.
    
5. The median days on market (time from listing to contract) dropped 62% in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the first quarter of 2020 -- down to a median of only eight days on the market!

1. There are more homes selling per year now than we've seen anytime over the past  10+ years.
    
   
2. There are fewer homes on the market now than we've ever seen anytime over the past 10+ years.

1. Low inventory does mean that buyers have very few options at any given time.
    
2. Low inventory does not mean that not many homes are selling.

1. Interest rates are on the rise.  We have seen rates rise from 2.67% in December to 3.17% at the end of March. 
    
2. Interest rates are still lower now than they have been for the majority of the past several years (shown) and an even longer time period that is not shown.
    
3. Some wonder (or suspect) that if interest rates keep rising that might eventually cause the housing market to cool off a bit -- perhaps from a roaring inferno to a blazing inferno?  :-)

• learn more about the featured home above, 104 Kline Court, a single family home in Bridgewater that just hit the market this morning by visiting 104KlineCourt.com
   
  
• download a PDF of my full market report
   
  
• email me (scott@hhtdy.com) or text me (540-578-0102) if you're want to set up a time to talk about selling your current home or buying a new one

1. There were 22% more home sales this February than last February.
    
   
2. There were 11.59% more home sales in the past 12 months compared to the previous 12 months.
    
   
3. The median sales price over the past year was $247,700 -- which is 11.83% higher than a year prior.
    
4. The median "days on market' over the past year was a mere seven days -- 59% lower (thus, faster) than the prior year.

• Home Sales Are Up
  
• Median Sales Prices Are Up
  
• Contract Activity Is Up
  
• Inventory Levels Are Down

• learn more about the featured home above, 835 South High Street, a three bedroom City home priced just above $200K within blocks of parks, schools and the JMU campus
  
• download a PDF of my full market report
  
• email me (scott@hhtdy.com) or text me (540-578-0102) if you're want to set up a time to talk about selling your current home or buying a new one
  

Now, onto the data and some pretty charts and graphs...

A few observations from the overview data presented above...

1. There were 100 home sales in January 2021 which is the same pace of sales as the 100 home sales seen in January 2020.  On the next graph you'll see that this is quite a bit higher than normal for the month of January.
    
2. The 1,493 home sales seen in the past 12 months in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County is a 10% increase over the 1,359 home sales seen during the previous 12 months.  So, we're seeing many more homes sell these days than in the past few years.
    
3. The median sales price has risen nearly 11% over the past year -- from $222,500 all the way up to $246,500.  This is a significant increase in prices and it has been largely fueled by high buyer demand for housing and low mortgage interest rates.
    
4. The average time it takes a home to sell (which I measure by calculating "median days on market") fell 56% over the past year from a median of 18 days to a median of eight days on the market.  Another way to look at that is that half of the homes that sold in the past year were under contract within eight days!
   

Now, I was telling you that January was a bit unusual, even though it was a repeat of last January, right?  Let's take a look...

Indeed, the 100 home sales we saw in January 2021 was merely a repeat of January 2020 -- boring! ;-) -- but that is many more home sales than we typically see in January.  We usually see 60 to 70 home sales in the month of January.  Last year's super strong month of 100 home sales was followed by a super slow month of only 63 home sales in February.  Stay tuned to find out whether home sales will again quickly slide downward in February, or will remain strong.  Keep reading to see how many people signed contracts in January, which might be at least some indication of what we'll see as far as February sales.

Looking for a big picture graph that summarizes what has been happening in our local housing market over the past year?  It's this funny looking one...

Starting with the bottom, orange, line -- this is showing the number of home sales per year for each of the past 12+ months.  You'll note that the annual pace of home sales took a nose dive last year between April and August, which are usually the strongest months of the year for home sales.  But then, home sales took off quickly in the fall and continued to accelerate into winter, leading to huge rebound in the pace of home sales in our area.  This seems to mostly be able to be attributed to COVID.  There was a lot of uncertainty in the market in March, April, May, etc. which slowed down home sales, but then as people realized that the housing market wasn't falling apart AND they realized that their homes weren't working as well for them when they were in them 95% of the time (thanks, COVID) AND they realized that super low interest rates made it a compelling time to upgrade their home, we saw home sales take off quickly!

The top, green line, then is the median sales price.  We have been seeing steadily increasing sales prices in our local area for the past few years and those prices kept marching upward quickly in 2020.  The annualized median sales price at the end of January 2021 was $246,500 -- a significant increase above a year ago when it was $223,500.

So, remember that I mentioned that January contracts might give us an idea of what to expect for February sales?  Let's take a look...

It seems January wasn't just a busy month of closings - it was also a busy month for buyers (and sellers) signing contracts to buy (and sell) homes.  There were 95 contracts signed in January 2020, and 123 in January 2021!  As such, it seems likely that February (and March) will be busy months for closed home sales.

What's it like buying a home these days?  It can be a bit challenging, and stressful, mostly because of the very (very, very) low inventory levels at any given point...

A year ago, a buyer would have been choosing from 196 homes on the market in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County.  Today, there are only 107 homes on the market for sale!?!  This huge (46%) decline in inventory levels means that a buyer doesn't have a whole lot of options at any given moment in time.  Now, that's not to say that they don't have options at all -- they do.  If we see 1400 home sales over the next 12 months it will be because around 1400 homes will be listed for sale.  So, there will be plenty of options of what a buyer might buy -- but if recent market dynamics continue through 2021, most of those new listings will go under contract quickly (median of eight days on the market) which will keep the inventory levels quite low!

Finally, those interest rates.  Yes, they are still low...

Some part of what fueled the wild real estate market in 2020 was super low mortgage interest rates.  As shown above, the average 30 year fixed mortgage interest rate has been below 3% for over six months now.  This has kept monthly housing prices affordable for buyers amidst rising prices and has also allowed plenty of folks to refinance and see cost savings on a monthly basis.

So there we have it.  We're a month (ok, really a month and a half) into 2021 and thus far we're seeing a continuation of the strong local housing market that we saw in 2020.  Generally speaking that means it will be pretty fun to be a seller, pretty challenging to be a buyer, and you'll get to experience the full range of emotions of you are selling AND buying! 

If you are making plans for selling or buying in spring 2021...

Sellers - Even though the market is hot, you still need to prepare your home well, price it appropriately based on historical sales data and market it thoroughly and professionally.

Buyers - Get prequalified for a mortgage, start stalking new listings, go see them on the first day they hit the market, and get ready to compete in a multiple offer situation. 

Seller / Buyers - If you need to (or want to) sell in order to buy, this will require a bit more strategery :-) than normal.  It can be done, but we need a solid plan in place from the start.

If I can be of help to you as you start to think about the possibility of making a move, selling your home, buying a new one, etc. -- just let me know. I'd be happy to meet with you in person, via Zoom, or to chat by phone to help you think and talk through the possibilities.  You can reach me at scott@hhtdy.com or via phone/text at 540-578-0102.

Enjoy the second half of February, and we'll check in again in early March!

 

• 2020 Q4 = median sales price of $207,100
• 2019 Q4 = median sales price of $217,250

1. December home sales were much stronger than expected, with 138 closed sales compared to last year's 100 closed sales.  This marked a 38% increase in December home sales.
    
2. Now looking at all of the 2020 home sales (1,493) and comparing them to all of the 2019 home sales (1,324) we find that there was a staggering 13% increase in the volume of home sales in 2020!
    
3. Not only did more homes sell -- they sold at higher prices.  The median sales price increased from $222,750 in 2019 up 10% to $244,900 in 2020. 
    
   
4. Homes sold 50% faster in 2020 (median of 9 days on the market) as compared to in 2019 (median of 18 days on the market). 
   

1. We saw 9% more sales of detached homes in 2020 as the pace of sales increased from 954/year to 1,041/year.
    
2. The median sales price of those detached homes rose 12% in 2020 up to its current level of $269,000 in all of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County.
    
3. Here's where we really see a jump -- there was a 22% increase in the number of attached homes sold in 2020 in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County.  After only seeing 370 such sales in 2019, there were 452 of them last year.
    
4. The median sales price of attached homes also jumped considerably, up 10% to $193,000.

1. Pre-COVID, most of us likely spent the minority of our waking hours in our homes.  We would be at work much of the time.  Post-COVID, many folks found themselves spending 90% or more of their waking hours in their homes.  For many folks made them quickly realize that their home was no longer working for their needs or those of their family.  If you're working from home and your kids are learning from home, you suddenly have higher expectations for the space and spaces that your home offers.  I suspect this "being at home much more than usual" dynamic caused more people to decide to sell their home and buy a new home during 2020.
    
2. Mortgage interest rates have been dropping throughout most of 2020, making it more (and more and more) compelling to buy a home, and more affordable to do so from a monthly mortgage payment perspective.  These lower rates likely made it pretty easy for the "my home doesn't work during COVID" buyers to consider upgrading to a new home.
    
3. There is an extraordinary amount of pent up buyer demand in our area.  Perhaps more sellers than usual listed their homes in the second half of the year, most of which were scarfed right up by eager buyers, thus leading to higher than normal home sales.  This also seems to have lead to higher sales prices!
    
4. What do they say?  The whole is greater than the sum of its parts?  More buyers who want to upgrade to a new home, plus super low interest rates, plus pent up buyer demand, plus quickly rising home prices = a red hot real estate market in 2020!
   
   
5. As one other aside, it is also possible that we may have seen more second home purchases in 2020 than in other comparable years.  More and more people found they could work from home, or from out of town, and this likely drove at least some number of new buyers of second homes into our market place.
   

1. This was the first time in the past 10 (+) years that we have seen a double digit percentage increase in the median sales price in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County.  During the first nine years of the past decade we saw an average increase in the median sales price of 3% per year.  In 2020, it was a 10% increase!
    
2. The 13% increase in the number of home sales in a year is not unprecedented.  We saw a similar (larger) bump in 2013 and 2016. 
   

• 2015 = 3% increase over 2014
• 2016 = 17% increase over 2015
• 2017 = 4% decline compared to 2016
• 2018 = 3% increase over 2017
• 2019 = 1% increase over 2018
• 2020 = 12% increase over 2019
  

Stay tuned for my full market report in the next week or two, as well as predictions for the 2021 housing market.

1. Home sales were 52% higher this November than last -- rocketing up from 93 home sales up to 141 home sales! 
    
2. The year-to-date pace of home sales has increase 10.47% this year over last.  Despite COVID, we've seen 1,351 home sales in the first 11 months of this year compared to only 1,223 home sales last year.
    
3. The median sales price has also been rising quickly, to the tune of a 10.91% YTD increase.  Last year we were looking at a $220,000 median sales price and this year that figure has risen to $244,000!
    
4. Homes are taking half as long to sell this year as they did last year.  The median "days on market" was 18 days during the first 11 months of last year -- but only 9 days during that timeframe this year!

1. Steady, predictable, sustainable growth in home values - perhaps +3% per year.
    
2. Faster than normal growth in home values.
    
3. Stagnant home home values - which are really a net negative due to inflation.
    
4. Declining home values.

1. October 2020 was crazy!  There were 149 home sales in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County last month, which is 34% more than the prior October.  This is likely much stronger than anyone was predicting.
    
2. That strong month of October sales has pushed 2020 YTD home sales even further ahead of 2019.  We have now seen 6.55% more home sales this year than last when looking at the first ten months of the year.
    
3. The median sales price in our area has risen a staggering 10.27% over the past year -- from $220,000 to $242,600.
    
4. Homes were selling fast last year, with a median of 17 days on the market, but 2020 wasn't going to be outdone as they are selling even faster this year, with a median of 10 days on the market!

Interestingly, things do branch out a bit when we look at the City vs. the County...

As shown above, there has been a decline in home sales in the City (-5.58%) while we have seen an increase in the County (+11.63%).  Not shown is that the median sales price has increased in both areas -- up 11% in the City and up 9.76% in the County.  The decline in City home sales is not for home buyers not trying -- there are plenty of folks who want to buy in the City but there seems to be a shortage of sellers willing to sell.

So - did I mention that September and October were a bit surprising?

Take a few seconds to take in what the graph above is showing us.  September 2020 home sales (156) were 47% higher than the average of the past three months of September.  October 2020 home sales (149) were 35% higher than the average of the past three months of October.  So, if the local housing market was unusually slow this Spring due to COVID, this September and October have more than made up for that given these shockingly high months of home sales!

Which invites the question of how the year will finish out...

1. The number of buyers buying in a given year (or in a given six month period in this graph) has remained relatively consistent over the past few years.
    
2. The number of homes from which those buyers are choosing on a monthly basis has steadily fallen, from 400-ish homes for sale three years ago to 200-ish today.  This makes it harder for buyers to find a house to buy and they are often competing with multiple other buyers.
    
3. Sometimes folks think that lower inventory levels mean that fewer sellers are selling.  It's not quite that.  If 1400 buyers buy in a year, then 1400 sellers have sold.  So, the steady pace of buyer activity means there is a steady pace of seller activity -- but buyers are contracting so quickly on (most but not all) homes that there are never very many homes on the market at any given point.

So, given this strong sellers market, are sellers negotiating much?

Nope.  The median ratio between the list price and sales price for all homes sold in 2020 has been 100%.  What!?  Yes, that means that half of homes sold for the list price or more!  This has been the least that sellers have negotiated in many, many years - maybe ever.

Circling back to those inventory levels one more time...

You'll see that we are seeing some amount of seasonable fluctuation in inventory levels as we did see a slight rise in homes for sale (and not under contract) during the spring months, but we have seen an overall 39% decline in inventory levels over the past year.  Inventory levels ticked upward in October 2020, but I doubt that will be a lasting trend.  We are likely to see relatively low inventory levels (under 200) even through the remainder of the fall and into and through the winter.

Oh, and did I mention that mortgage interest rates are relatively low?

Perhaps absurdly, ridiculously, unexpectedly, historically low would be a better way to describe it.  We just finished the fourth month of average 30 year mortgage interest rates being below 3%!  This has created some very favorable monthly payment scenarios for buyers this year -- and thus far I'm not getting any sense that we'll see these interest rates rise much in the near future.

OK, back to a few (real estate related) areas of thankfulness...

1. I'm thankful that you read this entire synopsis of our local housing market.  Who made it this far?  Reply to say hello!  ;-)
    
2. I'm thankful that home owners and home sellers in this area have not seen home values fall amidst the many other unexpected changes that 2020 brought into our lives.
    
3. I'm thankful to be able to do what I do - help buyers and sellers make thoughtful, informed and intentional decisions when buying and selling homes - because I love my work and the people (buyers and sellers) with whom I get to work.
   

I'll close out with a few key recommendations for buyers and sellers in this crazy-ish market...

BUYERS

• Get pre-qualified for a mortgage ASAP.
   
  
• Look at houses the day they are listed.
   
  
• Be prepared to make an offer on Day 1.
   
  
• Know that you might be competing with other buyers.
   
  
• Learn about escalation clauses and how to use them.
   
  

SELLERS

• Pricing your home appropriately, preparing it well for the market, and marketing it rapidly, thoroughly and professionally are still the secret sauce to securing a buyer.
   
  
• If your home has been on the market for 60+ days and still has not sold, you will likely have to start thinking about whether to make a price reduction in order to secure a buyer.  If buyers are not responding (with an offer) at your current pricing, consider making an adjustment sooner rather than later.

1. September was crazy!  We saw (150) home sales this September, which is a whopping 33% increase over last September's 113 home sales!  That was unexpected!
    
2. The stellar month of sales in September brought the year-to-date sales total up to 1,049 home sales -- which is 3% more than seen in the first nine months of last year.  So, after months of lagging behind in this year-to-date category due to a slow spring market (thanks COVID) now our summer/fall market has created a full rebound to a stronger year this year than last.
    
3. The median sales price of homes sold thus far in 2020 is an absurd 10% higher than a year ago.  This probably merits more introspection, as a 10% increase in sales prices within a single year is not normal or sustainable. 
    
4. Homes are selling much more quickly this year than last -- with the median days on  market dropping 41% from 17 days to only 10 days.

1. There were 10% more home sales in August 2020 (132 sales) than we saw last August!
    
2. Year-to-date home sales (899) are now only about 1% behind where we were (906) last year at this time.
    
3. We've seen 1,316 home sales in the past 12 months -- which is ever so slightly (0.38%) higher than the previous 12 months when there were 1,311 home sales. 
    
4. Home prices are rising, and quickly!?!  The median sales price in 2020 is $239,900 which is 9.54% higher than a year ago when it was $219,000. 
    
5. Homes are selling about faster (this year) than fast (last year).  It only took homes a median of 18 days to go under contract last year -- but now that has dropped to only 11 days!

• Over the past 3 years we've seen an average increase of 5% per year.
   
• Over the past 7 years we've seen an average increase of 4% per year.

• Get pre-qualified for a mortgage ASAP.
   
  
• Look at houses the day they are listed.
   
  
• Be prepared to make an offer on Day 1.
   
  
• Know that you might be competing with other buyers.
   
  
• Learn about escalation clauses and how to use them.
   
  

• kids haven't been inside a school building for five months instead of the usual three
   
  
• it has rained so much in the past two weeks that the grass is green instead of the brown we usually see in August
   
  
• home sales are picking up pace instead of slowing down like the usually do at this time of year

1. July was a solid month of home sales!  The 150 (!!) home sales in July 2020 was about 1% higher (1 more sale) than the impressive 149 home sales seen last July. 
    
2. We're still slightly behind in 2020.  Despite a strong month of sales in July, the year-to-date pace of home sales (January through July) is still 2.8% behind where we were last year at this time.
    
3. There is virtually no slow down in the annual pace of home sales.  There have been 1,301 home sales in the past 12 months which is just less than half a percent behind the 1,307 home sales seen in the previous 12 months.
    
4. I'll examine this a bit more further on in this report, but the median sales price has risen *significantly* over the past year.  The median sales price during the first seven months of 2020 was $239,900 which is 9.54% higher than the $219,000 we saw last year at this time.  This is a drastic increase and one that makes you start to say "hmmm...." Read on.
    
5. Homes are selling faster and faster and faster, oh my!  The median days on market is 29% lower this year (12 days) than it was last year (17 days) and any recent home buyer can tell you how frustrating that is!

We start to see some differences when breaking things down by property type...

1. Fewer (-6%) detached homes have sold this year as compared to last year.
    
2. More (+7%) attached homes have sold this year as compared to last year.
    
3. The median price of detached homes has risen 11% over the past year!
    
4. The median price of attached homes has risen 9% over the past year.

Now, let's contextualize those 150 home sales we saw in July...

1. You can download a full PDF of my market report here.
    
2. I'm suffering from my second severe case of poison ivy this summer and I'm a bit punchy on prednisone.  There are plenty of tidbits of good news in this month's market report and hopefully the steroids won't make me any more giddy than I should be.  ;-)  You've been warned - I'm writing this market report under the influence...
   

1. The 130 closed sales in June 2020 marked a 10% decline from last June.  This is not altogether surprising given the slower months of contract activity over the past few months.
    
2. There have been 4% fewer closed sales in the first half of 2020 as compared to the first half of 2019.  A few months ago when COVID-19 was just starting to impact us locally, I thought the drop off in home sales activity could have been much more significant than it actually has turned out to be.
    
3. When looking at a full year of home sales, the annual pace of closed sales is up a bit less than 1%.  There have been 1,297 home sales in the past year as compared to 1,289 during the prior 12 months.
    
4. The median sales price has increased almost 7% in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County in the first six months of 2020 as compared to the first six months of 2019 and is now hovering at $235,000.
    
5. Homes are selling faster (!!!) than last year given the 43% decline in the median days on market in the first half of 2020 as compared to the first half of 2019.  The median days on market is now only 12 days!  Half of homes that sold in the first half of 2020 were under contract within 12 days of being listed for sale!
   

1. There have been almost 6% fewer sales of detached homes in the first half of 2020.  We saw 462 such sales between January and June of 2019 and only 435 such sales in the same timeframe in 2020.
    
2. Those 435 detached homes sold for almost 11% more than the homes that sold in the first half of 2019.  The median sales price rose of detached homes increased from $230,000 to $254,900!
    
3. There was only a tiny uptick in attached home sales during the first half of this year.  We saw 175 such sales between January and June of 2019 and an increase to 176 sales this year.
    
4. The median sales price of these attached homes rose nearly 9% in the past year from $174,900 in the first half of 2019 up to $189,900 in the first half of 2020.

• SELLERS: Yes, it's a seller's market - but we still need to stay focused on the same old, same old - price, condition and marketing.
   
• BUYERS:  Get pre-approved, stalk the new listings, and be ready to go see houses of interest quickly and to make an offer quickly, keeping in mind how to make your offer as strong as possible.
  

• Authorized staff to borrow up to $2,850,000.
   
• Authorized staff to proceed with purchasing a property for constructing a stormwater detention facility.
   
• Directed that $925K from the General Fund be applied towards the purchase of the property.

1. Home sales declined 31% in May 2020 as compared to last May -- partly due to the fact that May 2019 was a record-setting month, but also because we saw fewer contracts being signed during March and April of 2020.  Those lower contract numbers were not necessarily due to dampened buyer enthusiasm - but rather because fewer sellers were putting their homes on the market.
    
2. Despite a big drop in May home sales, the year-to-date (January through May) pace of home sales is only 3% behind where we were last year. 
    
3. Furthermore, the annual pace of home buying has dropped less than 1% over the past year -- from 1,319 sales per year to 1,310 sales per year.  Not much of a shift in long term trends despite COVID-19.
    
4. Median sales prices continue to increase -- and quickly!  The median sales price of homes sold in the first five months of this year was $234,900 - a 9.26% increase over last year's $215,000!
    
5. Looking at a slightly longer time frame, the median sales price over the year ($230,000) is 7% higher than it was a year ago ($214,900) in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County.
    
6. If you haven't heard -- homes are selling quickly!  The median days on market was 39% lower this January through May as compared to last January through May!
   

• SELLERS: The market is starved for listings, so it can be an exciting time to sell right now, depending on your price range, location, etc.
   
• BUYERS: Be ready to pounce on any new listings that well serve your needs/wants because there are fewer options than anytime recently and many buyers ready to compete with you.
   
• OWNERS: Don't worry too much about the slight declines in the pace of home sales, as home values seem to still be quite stable and rising.