Published by Forbes.com | February 16, 2023
Well-priced, well-marketed homes will receive attractive offers during their first weekend on the market.
The fast-approaching spring home shopping season should feel a bit calmer than in recent years. Shoppers can expect competition for well-priced homes, but without the crowds of buyers that packed open houses like they did in 2021 and early 2022, according to a new Zillow analysis.
“Affordability will still be a challenge for many buyers this year, but sellers who price and market their home competitively shouldn’t have a problem finding a buyer,” said Zillow senior economist Jeff Tucker. “The slight drop in mortgage costs since October should revive demand after last fall’s slump, especially in more affordable markets and neighborhoods, but we are unlikely to see competition approach the fever pitch seen in the last two years.”
Mortgage movement sets the stage
The market cooled dramatically in the second half of 2022, amid rising mortgage rates and two straight years of red-hot competition. But as mortgage costs bumped down from their peak in the fall, sales returned. Though sales still remain below where they were a year ago, they’ve rebounded significantly over the past few months.
There are as few homes for sale to start the year as there were in 2021, which, at the time, was a new record for scarcity. But the market is far from the white-hot demand-side conditions of early 2021 and 2022, when ultralow mortgage rates triggered bidding wars over most listings.
On the seller side, well-priced, well-marketed homes will receive attractive offers during their first weekend on the market, but many listings will take longer and will need price cuts to sell.
