The first two months have been a strong showing for the Dayton and Miami Valley real estate market.
With all three areas up across the board — sales, average and median price — REALTORS® have been busy serving consumers across the region.
However the question of inventory, or a lack thereof, is always of concern to REALTORS® and consumers alike. Listings submitted in the month of February decreased over six percent to 1,488 entries.
Freddie Mac has come out and said that this tight inventory could slow the spring home-buying season in an article published on HousingWire.
“Tight housing inventory has been an important feature of the housing market at least since 2016,” Freddie Mac Chief Economist Sean Becketti said in the article. “For-sale housing inventory, especially of starter homes, is currently at its lowest level in over ten years.”
Freddie Mac also went on to say there are four main areas that are impacting the low inventory situation the market finds itself in.
- Fear of consumers about low inventory.
- Consumers themselves are afraid to make a move right now in the market because they are afraid that quick sales will leave them without a new home to buy in such a tight inventory market. So less homes are being put on the market.
- Mortgage Rates
- Consumers continue to watch and monitor mortgage rates as they rise and fall. Recently mortgage rates fell slightly recently with the average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with decreasing to 4.28 percent from 4.34 percent, with points increasing to 0.38 from 0.31. Mortgage rates took a jump following the election but have leveled off a bit. This still leaves consumers unsure if giving up good interest rates in the home they are in currently is a good idea.
- Home Prices
- While Dayton and the Miami Valley have seen a month-over-month increase in average home prices, many markets are still dealing with the issue of not being at pre-recession levels so consumers are left feeling concerned if they can sell a house for a high enough price to cover their cost. Again though, Dayton’s market has been strong for the last 6 months with prices rising — February’s average sales price totaled $142,443, exceeding last year’s monthly figure by 15 percent while the median price saw a larger percentage increase, up 17 percent from last year to $126,500.
- Housing Starts
- Housing starts are very low currently. Freddie Mac’s report in the HousingWire article explains the projected 1.26 million starts for 2017 will not be enough to cover the needed 1.7 million new housing units.
To see the full original article on HousingWire, please click here.
