Q & A: What is happening out there? How does this year look as it relates to the housing market?

In the past week I have been asked this question several times. I think it is important to not be a cheerleader when it comes to the real estate market. When people ask me this question I offer them my sincerest guidance. I know of no other way to be a trusted advisor. Responses like “I am so busy” or “It is going to be an amazing year” are a dime a dozen. I always feel a deep personal and professional responsibility to be accurate in my dealings and guidance with the public. People’s lives are at stake in a way. Someone may walk away from their conversation with me and start planning major life decisions based on comments I make. I know that sounds dramatic but my business is dramatic. If folks go home and introduce the idea of moving or making a change to their life partner or those they love based on a conversation they had with me then there is responsibility there. If they stay silent but start to dream and scheme about retiring or making a change then I may have set that in motion. I do not want to share anything casually. It may appear casual when you bump into me and ask me about the market but please know it is not casual for me. It is formal actually. It takes effort to drum up my thoughts about the current state of the market and offer my opinion of the near future and or a long term forecast. It is serious business. It is almost too early in the selling season to tell what the market will do this year. That said, I have my ear to the track more than most based on the volume of sales I do. I do not boast statistically very often but know that I am the top unit agent in our community when it comes to volume of sales. Unit volume is what gives a professional in my industry the lay of the land. Dollar volume gives you income but less perspective, in my opinion. If you sell 5 homes at $3,000,000 that is $15,000,000 in dollar volume sold but only 5 sales experiences. If you sell the same $15,000,000 in volume with only 2 of those sales at $3,000,000 and the other $9,000,000 in volume consists of a variety of price points and totals 8 more sales than who has a better understanding of the overall marketplace? The agent with 5 sales or the agent with 10 sales? I would argue that the agent who does more overall transactions in a community understands the high end of the market but also understands the market in its entirety. Transaction volume provides me with the most wisdom and a broader understanding of the pulse. I also touch every transaction that occurs on my team. That is a statement no other team can truly boast honestly. I am currently positioned at .0015% in the state ranking by dollar volume sold, so I am no slacker in that category. That ranking is certainly better than the top 1%. In addition I have certainly been involved and managed well over a billion dollars in sales volume exceeding what a few colleagues in this community boast. With the above behind us, I will dig into how the market is today. I brought three properties to market this past week and put several others under agreement. The market seems fierce. Multiple offers on several of the homes with highest and best rounds for a few. I would also like to share that, in some cases, offers are being accepted with home sale contingencies. That completely opens up the market to a set of buyers who have not been able are many buyers who are not willing to bridge a purchase with a rental. Those same buyers/sellers are not willing to sell their home until they have identified a better property, or one that fits their mission, then the one they currently live in. Opportunity knocks once again for these consumers. Offer prices have to be strong when a home sale contingency is written into an offer but pricing is steady for all offers anyway. I use the word fierce because deals are getting made with traditional contingencies, home sale contingencies and cash, in some cases, but the prices are strong and the timeline to sell is reasonable. Not in every case but in many cases. In Concord and the surround- ing towns, statistics available for comparison from December 2022 vs. December 2023, as well as year over year sales data, offer a picture of a market that is not declining when it comes to sales prices. The main reason for this is that sales volume was down 25% over the previous year due to a lack of inventory. Median sale price in the same time period was up 4% year over year from $1,449,250 to $1,507,500 in Concord. For those of us who have been around for a while, this is a mind boggling median price. This data combined with this past week’s pulse picture should prove that the market is strong as it relates to pricing. As far as deal making goes this year, in many cases there will be more opportunity for transactional creativity, when it comes to terms, than we have seen for years. Thus far, it appears that people are motivated to move on this year. I believe that rate hikes slowed the pace of sales a bit and certainly drove the amount of homes coming to market down last year. I believe that people are fed up with waiting to move on with their lives due to mortgage math, and those who are ready to buy or sell are and will be taking action this year, as long as they can afford to do so. That my friends, clients and fellow Concordians is the state of the market.

If you want specific coaching related to your home or circumstances/mission please reach out by phone/text or email. Confidentiality rules the roost at The Attias Group and pressure from me will be non-existent.