Market Meditations May 2014

These numbers are for Wake County only.

Statistically, 2014 is falling short of 2013. There are fewer buyers looking and fewer sales — but not a lot fewer. The recovery isn’t so much faltering as perhaps finding a new normal.

One encouraging sign is that prices are going up. Dollar per square foot has taken an impressive $7 leap between 2013 and 2014. Days on Market are down. Both of these trends are consistent with lack of inventory. Supply and Demand rule — always. Fewer homes for buyers to choose from is bound to move prices upward, but until now we really haven’t seen that happening. The price per square foot barely budged between 2012 and 2013, in spite of demand so high that multiple offers seemed to be everywhere. Between 2013 and 2014, though, it’s a different story.

The housing market’s recovery isn’t going to be quick.  It’s going to take time, and patience.  Inventory levels will remain depressed until home prices rise high enough to lift up the sellers who still can’t realize enough from a sale to cover what they have in the home, plus the expenses of selling.

We are not there yet.