Realtor Advice Charleston SC: Market Is Primed For Sellers

Here’s some great Realtor advice Charleston SC–if you are thinking about selling your home and are waiting for Spring, then you might want to reconsider. Now is actually a perfect time to list and get sold, and avoid a lot of potential competition.

There’s the old saying “Strike why the iron is hot”, and that is true in the current real estate market.

In yesterday’s post I discussed that 2015 could be a breakout year for real estate, both locally and nationally.

In that post, I showed how the average home owner is staying in their home longer than before.

This can be explained because of the bad economy the last few years, as well as the fact that too many home owners didn’t have the option to sell because they were in a negative equity situation.

However, the majority of home owners are now in a positive equity position.

In a study by CoreLogic, it breaks down by each state the percentage of home owners that have equity in their home. The majority of states have 90% or greater of home owners that have equity in their home.

There are some interesting dynamics happening in real estate that I will share with you.

This information will show why now is a better time to list your house rather than waiting for the Spring.

First, demand is high and has the potential to get even more frenzied. In part 2 I will discuss what is driving the demand in greater detail.

For today, I am focusing on the market from the seller’s perspective. For sellers, the key statistic to look at is the Months Supply of Inventory.

The Months Supply of Inventory dropped in December.

That was drastically different for the entire year of 2014.

The rest of 2014 saw inventory year-over-year numbers increase each month.

So, we were increasing inventory levels, but took a step backward to end the year.

This just increases the demand for houses at the beginning of 2015.

Nationally we have been in a sellers market since 2013, and for many areas of Charleston that holds true as well. Currently, we are at 4.4 Months Supply of homes nationally. In Charleston, we are right there at 4.5 Months.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pending Sales is important to look at because Pending Sales are homes under contract–they will be the Closed Sales that happen in the next 30-60 days.

Below is a comparison of Pending Sales for 2013 and 2014. Notice the big drop off starting in August of 2013.

In December of 2014 the number of Pending Sales declined from November.

However, if you compare December of 2013 (marked on the infographic by the red dot) to December of 2014, you can see the number of Pending Sales is much greater than last year.

This clearly shows that the buyers are already out in force.

 

Another key indicator is Foot Traffic. This is the number of people actively looking at available homes on the market. Those numbers are way up, and well above the Foot Traffic we saw last December.

This stat is important because it is an indicator of future sales–Foot Traffic leads to contracts (Pending Sales), which leads to Closed Sales.

So, the demand for homes is strong, and the supply isn’t keeping up with the demand.

Many sellers are simply waiting for the Spring season because that is the “typical” time buyers come out.

However, statistics are indicating that for buyers, Spring has sprung.

Here is why waiting until Spring is not a good move for sellers.

First, because that is exactly what other sellers are thinking. Here is a look at when houses typically come onto the market.

Most homes are listed in the second quarter of the year, or the Spring months of April, May, and June.

In the infographic below, the 10 most popular listing days are circled.

 

The next graphic shows the inventory levels for the first half of 2014.

Notice the sharp increase as we moved into the second quarter of 2014.

 

 

 

 

By using traditional thinking, most sellers will hold off and start listing around April or May.

However, if you wait you will face more competition to sell. Given the low Months Supply of inventory, we obviously need more houses on the market.

Even with an influx of new inventory, we aren’t likely to see the market shift from a sellers market to a neutral or buyers market–at least not overnight.

That said, traditional thinking is not compatible with current market conditions. This market is not a traditional market.

Buyer demand is strong, and with less competition smart sellers that list now (as opposed to waiting for Spring) will get their home sold faster and for top dollar.

Remember, where demand exceeds supply, prices are driven up.

By looking at the available data, you can see that buyers aren’t waiting for Spring, and smart sellers shouldn’t either.

If you are thinking of listing your home for sale, then it is important to talk to the right Realtor.

You need someone that can break down the numbers down to your neighborhood and help you understand where prices are, as well as where they are headed.

Here’s some good Realtor advice Charleston SC–check out my Pam Marshall Realtor website.