The National Housing Market is Rebalancing; It’s a Good Thing!
March is traditionally the harbinger of the busy homebuying and selling season. Last month followed that annual tradition but at a much slower pace than in recent years, according to the latest RE/MAX National Housing Report.
Home sales this past month were 8.6 percent lower than sales during March 2018. But should home sellers be concerned? RE/MAX CEO Adam Contos has said the current rebalancing of the national housing market is healthy for the industry since the demand among buyers and sellers is slowly equaling. The report also found that the average months supply of inventory — the amount of time it would take for every home currently on the market to sell if no other homes are listed — was 2.7 months. A balanced housing market is inventory of 6 months or more.
Here are some highlights of the latest data found in the RE/MAX National Housing Report:
- Homes sales in March were the slowest start to spring homebuying in five years.
From 2015 to 2018, the housing market’s spring sprang to life with an increase in sales from February to March averaging 37.0 percent. March 2019’s month-over-month increase of 28.8 percent was the smallest since 24.6 percent in 2014.
- Inventory is up. Transactions are down.
March was the eighth consecutive month of year-over-year sales declines and the sixth straight month of year-over-year inventory growth, with a 5.3 percent gain.
- Most homes are increasing in value, but at a slower pace.
Housing activity in the report’s 54 markets nationwide also saw the Median Sales price grow by 3.4 percent year-over-year — notably smaller than the year-over-year increases in February (5.5%) and January (4.6%).