List In The Spring Sell In The Summer
Around Boulder, year in, year out, the ideal time to get your house on the market and sold is Spring. Hard and fast rule. Except, that’s not what the graph released by IRES MLS actually says. Yes, it is true that each Spring we see a spike in the median home price around April. But is this truly the best moment to sell? Well, maybe. (or as my buddy Allen would drawl that out, Maaaaaaaaaay be).
Opportunity Market Driven
Coming out of the the crazy housing market we had in the summer of 2016, demand was very strong around Boulder. And there, in the midst of Fall, there was suddenly a real demand for housing. Sure, you could wait for the Spring, a reliable time of market. But also one fraught with a lot of competition.
Boulder home sellers who took advantage of the low inventory time of year saw an excellent return on their investment. Values spiked almost as high as for those who waited until the Spring. That lower amount of competition may have resulted in a higher degree of satisfaction for Fall season home sellers.
Most Inventory For Home Buyers In Spring
So of course, the highest inventory of homes, greatest amount of choice, only time to buy is: Spring. Right? Er, maybe. May 2017 – high inventory, high number of sales. But median prices actually fell by the time of closings in June, so home sellers might prefer to have their property on the market earlier with less inventory options. And then look to 2018. The best inventory numbers for buyers was really in June – summer versus Spring. Home shoppers who waited had more houses to select from. Possibly finding the best lot, location, level of finish by holding out.
That same strategy a year later would not have panned out.
Fluid Housing Market
The reality is we face an ever fluid housing market in Boulder Colorado.
In general, you can look to the past for indicators. But you also want to stay rooted in the present to be flexible to take advantage of seasonal shifts. Inventory for instance is on the rise. I just blogged about this here.
The home seller that waits for Spring 2020 may find a world of competition for ever fewer home buyers. That would be a plausible outcome based upon current trends. Waiting might result not in a faster sale, but running into massive inventory of similar priced properties competing for your home buying business.
Winter Is Coming
Nothing sums up the fluidity of the marketplace like say December 2018. Housing inventory was trending towards the seasonal low. Makes sense – folks are getting ready for the holidays, who wants to move between Thanksgiving and New Years, right?
And at moment, median sales prices spiked to the best level in the past year. Better than the Spring. Better than the Spring to be in 2019. In a moment of low inventory and low sales volume, those owners selling were rewarded with higher than average Median home prices. Much higher. Checkout the snapshot to the right.
Low inventory, wrong time of year and suddenly homes are spiking in value and owners are rewarded for out of season selling decisions.
Boulder IRES MLS Real Estate Highly Localized
The fact is, our market is highly localized. It moves to its own beat. The comings and goings (mostly coming these days) of Big Tech and internet businesses is driving our community. Home values are increasing as a result. But impacting all of this is now ever increasing inventory. Two quarters in 2019 is too early to call it a trend.
Informed home buyers want to know the increased property inventory combined with historically low home mortgage rates make this moment, now, perhaps the best market to make a move.
What do you think?
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