We actually started to see a few more homes hitting the market in August, which is not a typical time for inventory to increase. Nevertheless, it has been a welcome change, allowing the buyer pool to grab a few more properties after an inventory starved Summer season.
And because they were quickly gobbled up by the market, we saw our number of Pending and Sold homes increase. For a while in August, the Month’s Supply went up to 0.88 months of inventory (That means if we had no more homes enter the market, we’d sell through all the available homes in about 27 days!) But as those homes Sold at the end of the month, our inventory levels to moved back down to 0.81, which is just slightly down from the 0.82 Months of Supply we had at the beginning of last month.
With the continued demand from Buyers, and a continued lack of homes in the market, we should see these Higher Prices continuing for the rest of this year, potentially cooling a little in the 4th quarter. But aside from a possible seasonal slowdown, I don’t foresee prices falling dramatically in the near future. It seems the market has settled into a new, higher pricing level that promises to be around for a while.
You can see from the chart below that this summer’s “Peak” number of homes in the market is actually lower than the 2019/2020 Winter Season, which is usually the time with the fewest number of homes on the market. In fact, August is the only month where inventory exceeded that ’19/’20 Winter Season. This is highly unusual. Add on top the fact that our “Sales” are exceeding last years numbers, and I still expect more upward pressure on home prices this year.
In June, our average sale price reached a new record high of $338,877 (revised). In July, we slipped back from that peak, down slightly to $331,283. In August, we are still hovering in that higher range, coming in at $326,827. With the Median continuing to stay at $275,000, it seems these higher prices are here to stay across Washington and Benton Counties. We are continuing the upward trajectory of the last 5 years, at an accelerated pace.
What it all Means for You
If you’ve been thinking of selling your home, right now is a historically good time to do so. These market forces continue to push prices higher and higher across our region.
And even though the prices are already high, my clients been using my Preparation Plans and Top-Notch Marketing, and have been getting offers at $10,000, $20,000, even $30,000 over the average sales prices for their neighborhoods.
To see the strategies we’ve been implementing, Watch my “Pre-Listing Price Accelerator” Guide Here and see How To Maximize Your Home Sale. It will walk you through everything I’ve been doing to get these amazing results for my home sellers.
But then you run into the problem of finding your next place. Understandably, many potential home sellers have decided to stay put because they don’t think they’ll be able to find their next home with so few on the market. And that’s the big issue, the main problem to solve this year.
For this reason, I’ve put together a program to find “Hidden Inventory, Off Market Homes” for my clients.
This is my #1 Strategy to get you and your family out of your current home and into your dream home. Let’s see what we can find together!
Just click here to learn all about the “Hidden Homes” Move-Up Program!