Home Prices Are...

Changes in home prices are top of mind for many as the housing market begins gearing up for spring. It can be hard to navigate misleading headlines and confusing data, so here’s what you should know about today’s home prices.

Month-over-month home price changes can be seen in the chart below. The data also shows that price depreciation peaked around August. Since then, any depreciation has been even milder. In other words, today’s home prices aren’t in a freefall.

On Cape Cod, prices have been more or less level since November when the median sales price for a single family home was $669,000. It dropped to $650,500 in December but rebounded in January to $669,500.

L:ooking at national data, Nataliya Polkovnichenko, Ph.D., Supervisory Economist at the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), explains: “U.S. house prices were largely unchanged in the last four months…While higher mortgage rates have suppressed demand, low inventories of homes for sale have helped maintain relatively flat house prices.”

What Does This Mean for You?

If you currently own your house, you may be concerned about even the smallest decline in prices. But keep in mind how much home values grew over the last few years. Compared to that growth, any declines that we might see are likely to be minimal.

In general, the price you can get for your home today is most likely about what you can receive over the next few months. Homeowners, who hesitated selling when the market was hot, are seeing that the somewhat outrageous price that a neighbor received 18 months is now not an option, as the pandemic inspired buying boom has slowed.

Homes that are not priced to reflect today’s market are remaining available longer. We’re seeing more price reductions than we have in months. The number of expired listings is also increasing.

With the spring market just around the corner, competition for available property will increase making now the best time for you to start marketing your home.

Meantime, those buyers, who are still waiting for the market to crash or prices to at least significantly fall, are going to continue to be disappointed.

Concerned about interest rates? Please check out this video from Mari that was recently posted on our YouTube channel. (And while you’re there, please subscribe.) Prices

Questions? Concerns? Ready to make your move? Let’s connect at 508-360-5664 or [email protected]. We’re happy to help.

Talk soon…

Mari and Hank