Right now both groups are a little timid -- which our data makes very clear.
Buyers, for one, are scheduling fewer showings.
According to our data from ShowingTime, buyer traffic is well below the levels from each of the last three years.
Madison area home sellers are less active, too.
Through the first 9 months of the year, new Dane County single family home listings have been entering the market at the slowest pace since at least 1999 (which is our earliest year for MLS data). What's more, the slowdown in new listings has accelerated in the months of July, August, and September.
Madison area condo sellers are also less active.
Through the first 9 months of the year, new Dane County condo listings have been entering the market at the slowest pace since 2002. Similar to the trend for homes, the slowdown in new condo listings has accelerated in the months of July, August, and September.
How do these trends impact buyers and sellers who are entering the market right now?
Buyers, for one, will have the opportunity to be more selective and find the market a little easier to navigate. They'll have fewer competing offers and fewer bidding wars to contend with. And as a general rule buyers will have more time to schedule showings and more time to make decisions -- compared to buyers from just a few months ago.
Sellers, on the other hand, will still enjoy high prices because inventory remains very low (stay tuned for our upcoming inventory update). But days on market are increasing, especially for homes that are poorly presented, under-marketed, or over-priced. And price reductions are occurring more frequently because many sellers aren't being realistic with their expectations for the fall market.
Stay tuned for our upcoming home and condo market updates.
In the next few days we'll be releasing our latest Madison area home and condo reports. We'll have all of the details very soon, but as a preview we can tell you right now that the big themes will be low inventory, fewer sales, higher prices, and increasing days on market.
