Realtors Are Telling Residents That They Shouldn’t Panic
A report from Fox 5 Vegas in Nevada. "Potential home buyers in the Las Vegas Valley said 'no' to real estate for the month of November. New data by the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors shows 10,000 single family homes were on the market and by the end of the month, 7,000 homes had zero offers on the table."
"That’s a 54 percent difference compared to 2017 and the highest number of homes in Las Vegas to not get an offer in two years. Realtors are telling Las Vegas residents that they shouldn’t panic. Even though the market is changing, Las Vegas’ market is still ahead of the game."
"'I mean that's still crazy fast for markets across this country,' said Nevada Realtors newly elected president, Keith Lynam. 'Are we as fast as were six months ago? No, but we couldn't sustain that, it was not sustainable, it was never going to be sustainable. So we're back to pretty much a normal market.'"
"Lynam said he predicts Las Vegas homes will average four to six months on the market. Before, Lynam says he saw some areas with homes on the market between 2.5 to 3 weeks."
The Bowling Green Daily News in Kentucky. "Will winter bring a cooling off of what has been a red-hot and record-setting Warren County residential real estate market? Numbers indicate the traditional slowing of homebuying activity during the winter may carry over into the new year and alter a market that has favored sellers for the past couple years."
"The county’s growth, coupled with inexpensive borrowing, created a homebuying market that veteran Realtors like Alan Read of Crye-Leike Executive Realty had never seen. 'This has been a phenomenal couple of years,' Read said. 'We have gone through the strongest seller’s market people can remember around here.'"
"Homebuilding, which had slumped in the wake of the 2008-09 recession, has rebounded at a frenzied pace. Figures provided by the City-County Planning Commission of Warren County show that the number of single-family lots approved exploded from 47 in 2012 to 1,121 in 2017. Multifamily unit approvals grew from 457 to 2,212 in the same period."
"As a result, the inventory of homes is growing. According to the Realtors Association of Southern Kentucky, Warren County had 614 homes listed for sale Nov. 30, a big increase from the 451 homes listed on the same date in 2017."
"Much of that growth is due to the building boom, says Realtor Ron Cummings of Century 21 Premier Realty. He pointed out that 183 of the homes are classified as new construction. Those are primarily higher-end homes, driving the average price of active listings up to its current figure of $320,797."
"Those homes aren’t moving as quickly as they have been in recent months. The current average days on market of 138 is up from 111 a year ago. Such incremental trends aren’t lost on real estate pros like Cummings, who said: 'It has been a seller’s market for 18 to 20 months. Right now it’s probably neutral, but it’s leaning toward a buyer’s market.'"
"Those trends could translate to a slowdown in the Warren County housing market, but Read doesn’t expect a dramatic change. 'Along about July you could see it shifting some as the Federal Reserve raised interest rates a little bit,' he said. 'You started seeing people waiting a little more as they saw how much prices had gone up.'"
"But that sort of slight cooling-off in a market that has been going full bore may not mean an immediate shift to a buyer’s market, Read reasons. 'Instead of going 100 miles an hour,' he said, 'maybe it will slow down to 80.'"