5 days Ago By Korea IT Times
Sales popped, rising +44% over the previous month to 752 in October (and +30% from a year ago) 2024. This was somewhat unexpected, as our market has seen demand stagnate for what seems like forever. While we've had a couple of months here and there when Sales surged a bit, it was never this dramatic.
And, if anything, demand had slid in the last few months of the summer and into the fall (just as the first two interest rate cuts hit). At this point, Sales are -3% below the 10-year average, which is essential. This means current demand levels (or at least in October) were average.
That surge just brought us back to where we SHOULD be. It looks hot compared to how slow demand has been in the last year or so. What about the rest of the market? New Listings dropped to 1,727.
Down (-16%) from September but about +11% from a year ago and still above (+18%) the ten-year average. Meanwhile, Total Active Listings fell off the recent record reached in September. They were falling 5% to 4,552 (up +3% from a year ago).
I had to go back to the summer of 2012 to find a month with as high a listing count as we had in September...
and we are still well above the 10-year average (+26%). And while supply numbers are high, I think it's important to point out that buyers still have difficulty finding the homes they want. There are a couple of reasons for this, I think; 1) There's a lot of supply in our market slated for "land assemblies.
" This type of property takes a long time to sell and certainly isn't selling in the current market, so it swells listing numbers (to an extent). 2) Many sellers are listing properties at aspirational prices. They'd like to move on, but only if they get the price that they are willing to accept.
These numbers are often above what the market is currently willing to bear, keeping these listings on the market longer and swelling listing numbers. The market has become increasingly complex. Different property types in different areas are being impacted in various ways.
I've found that the outlying areas of our market aren't faring as well as the inner parts of the city. Higher-end homes are also lagging a bit right now (westside houses, for example, were down nearly 3% in value in the last month alone). There seems to be more activity at "affordable" price points as first-time buyers and investors become more active again.
These segments of our market have been very quiet for a long time, and they often indicate that a turn in the market is occurring. There's definitely a shift in market sentiment in the last few weeks. I'm getting a lot more active buyers who are starting to feel that there's an opportunity in our market as interest rates decline.
..and I don't disagree with them.
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