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One thing that agents mentioned as I asked about different markets was an ever-so-slight cooling of demand — just in the last couple of weeks. An open house that might have resulted in 25 offers a month ago is now getting 10, one agent said.
An agent from a different region said she now has to temper the expectations of her sellers, who expect to get 60 people at a weekend open house and offers that are $100,000 over the listing price. "They're reading all those stories in the press about hot housing markets," she said, looking pointedly at me. (Guilty as charged. We published one today on Savannah, Georgia.)
Her market, she assured me, is still very hot, but maybe not insanely hot.
Another agent described how buyers who have missed out on multiple houses are making offers way over the listing price just so they can finally land a house. It's not clear if these buyers need to offer so much, the agent said, but they are just tired of the process. Their fatigue ends up skewing their offers — and therefore sales prices/comps.
These anecdotes support the premise of an article written this week by Lead Analyst Logan Mohtashami. To wit: even with very low mortgage rates, high home prices will end up cooling demand, which will lead to more inventory, which will further cool demand. We can only hope!
Until tomorrow —
Sarah Wheeler
HousingWire Editor in Chief
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