The Spring selling season has begun! Despite the fact that interest rates are up, showings on listed homes have increased in recent weeks. Houses priced correctly for the current market dynamic are seeing multiple offers. Houses priced either under $600K or over $1 million are on average seeing the greatest number of interested buyers tender offers. Sellers should take note, however, that contingent offers are now more common, and that as it currently stands buyers do have more breathing room to take their time to submit offers.
The mortgage rate for a 30-year loan increased from 5.99% to 6.94% through the month of February. As a result, the number of mortgage applications submitted in February dropped by 25%. Many buyers are standing by and waiting for the next dip before locking in a rate. A number of buyers are also standing idle in the hopes that more inventory will come online. This is to be expected, as active listing numbers are down market-wide; though our active listings are up 208% over last year, we saw only 3,778 active listings for the month of February, while our market historical average is closer to 13,000 active listings for February. We will continue to keep an eye on how 2023 evolves as the market stabilizes.