Is it too late to sell your house this year?

The real estate market has been sending mixed signals. Some houses sell very quickly and some linger on the market unsold. Just a few months ago nearly everything sold in the first few days. So, what happened? Can you still sell your house this year?

Let’s start with what happened. Can this all be blamed on low inventory that created the frenzy this spring? This is very neighborhood and price range specific but let’s take the Longfellow neighborhood in Minneapolis for example. For a quick x-ray of the market from March through May of this year there were 118 houses listed for sale. In 2020: 95, 2019: 119, 2018: 122 and for good measure a little further back 2015: 149. For the last few years when compared to 2015 the inventory has been lower overall. Now add in historically low interest rates, the ability to work at home from anywhere and you have the recipe for taking a lower inventory market to start with and turning it into absolute hysteria. Any new inventory that was listed got scooped up largely in multiple offers the 1st half of this year. There were anywhere from 5-15 homes for sale at any one time for most of the spring with an average of about 6 days on the market. Currently that number has consistently been in the 50’s for homes for sale and about 40 days on the market for the active properties.

Here is the kicker. The average days on the market right now for the “pending” properties (offer accepted and waiting to close) is just 16 days. So, houses that are priced right and/or updated are still selling quickly. What happened is this… choice! Buyers can comparison shop right now with 50+ homes on the market in contrast to 5-15 homes this spring. Yes, the end of the summer vacations and back to school is a contributing factor but it comes down to fewer buyers with more to choose from.  Because of choice, the buyers have been more punitive on houses that need a lot of updating but are priced not too far off from houses that don’t need updating. They have been rewarding well priced, updated homes with multiple offers in many cases.

So, yes you can absolutely sell your house this year still knowing that the market is a bit different! If you are also buying it’s an easier time to do that as well. In fact, we have negotiated $10K off, $25k off for our buyer clients this fall.

Call or text Travis at 612-729-7130 if you want to make a move yet this fall.