I’ve been a working Realtor for 20 years. As a result of that experience, I’ve gotten so I often feel something shifting before I have the data to prove what I’m sensing is right.
I’ve been feeling exactly that way the past few months. It seemed as if the market was slowing. Yet none of the data available to me substantiated that hunch.
That was until last week when I found proof.
In the seven county metro area, June and July’s metro real estate market featured a two month supply of small multi family properties on the market. This means if no new listings came on the market, inventory would be sold out in 60 days. Between March and May, there was just a one month supply.
No need to panic just yet. A balanced market, where buyers and sellers have equal leverage is when there’s a 5 or 6 month supply. Sellers are still very much in the driver’s seat.
Between January and May, there were never more than 181 active listings on the market in any given month. In June, that number jumped to 262. And in July, it was 297. That’s a 65% increase over May’s inventory number.
There is no reason to despair. When comparing 2021 summer numbers to those of 2019, which predates the pandemic, sales are down just 4% July over July. Perhaps more importantly, the median sales price for the seven county metro area was a robust $369,575.
The moral of the story? It’s still a great time to sell. It just may take a few more days to get an offer than it did in the spring.