Home selling prices are still higher than a year ago. But that comes with a big caveat now: Sellers are no longer guaranteed bidding wars or to get more for a home’s list price.
A new RE/MAX National Housing Report ranks the D.C. metro area at the top of its list of the five markets with the biggest year-over-year decrease in close-to-list price ratio.
In August, sellers in the D.C. region got, on average, 84% of their original list price, or about 16% less than what the home was on the market for. A year earlier, sellers here were getting an average of 101% of their listing price.
Nationwide, the average close-to-list price ratio was 99% in August, or 1% below original list.
Tony Cammarota, an agent with RE/MAX Distinctive Real Estate in D.C., thinks the D.C. area’s highly educated workforce has made area buyers more savvy.
“When our clients see what’s happening with interest rates, with the government trying to control inflation, although they may be politically liberal, they become very conservative financially. So they use that opportunity to start negotiating on properties,” Cammarota said.
RE/MAX CEO Nick Bailey said he believes patient buyers were rewarded in August after prices softened from July. Sales increased as buyers “bought the dip,” which was not a trend many were expecting.
The D.C. metro area also topped another RE/MAX list in August. No. 1 on the list of the five markets with the biggest year-over-year increase in new listings. In August, about 12,900 new residential properties came on the market, a 13% jump from a year earlier.
“People realize that the government is going to keep pushing rates up to control inflation. And if they have a reason to sell a property, they want to do it sooner rather than later, or try to do it sooner rather than later,” Cammarota said.
Mortgage interest rates are at 15-year highs, with a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage now averaging 6.7%. Cammarota expects rates to continue rising, at least in the shorter term.
For buyers and sellers who can wait for now, it may be a good decision.
“I think if economists’ predictions that rates are going to level out next year at about 4.5%, that should bring a more normalized market,” Cammarota said.
