It’s hard to believe that we’re three months into the year already. Time has been flying by in our world, largely because we’re getting busier by the minute. Spring traditionally bring tons of activity and this year is no different. Ozarkers are thinking about listing their homes more and more as we inch toward summer. Let’s take a look at the numbers for the first quarter of 2018 and analyze what they mean!
Inventory
Inventory has been low for quite some time. This meant that sellers were fortunate to have plenty of buyers to look at their home. For buyers, however, it’s been a break neck market. Buyers have had to act quickly to secure the homes they want. Lower inventory usually means that you have to be ready to make an offer in a hurry on any property you like. Luckily, inventory is on the rise this month, which will help buyers by offering more to choose from.
Sales Price
Sales prices have maintained their momentum through last year, culminating with a surge in March. We expect this to regulate toward the mean over the next few months, but it is not uncommon to see the average sales price and list price increase when more inventory hits the market. Increasing prices is a very good sign for existing homeowners becuase it tends to mean an increase in value across the board. If you’re curious about the value of your home, please feel free to contact us!
DAYS ON MARKET
For the past six months or so, buyers have had to act quickly to get the homes they want. This has greatly reduced the time on market for most listings in the Greater Springfield area. Despite an uptick in the throes of winter, days on market averages have been great for sellers. As of March, it’s taking a bit less than 6 weeks to sell a home on average in our service area. The outliers in this case also vary wildly. If a home is priced property, it’s not uncommon at all to see it sell in only a few days.
INTEREST RATES
Despite an increase in interest rates over the past few months, rates are still historically very low. They’ve been trending lower for more than 30 years, so a hike in rates comes with little surprise. After rumblings all of last year about increases, we expect that dialog to continue in 2018. At this point, no one knows how much rates will go up over the next year. Now is a great time to lock in a fixed rate mortgage at just above 4%.
Source: New feed
