We thought that people who had been waiting to sell would see the increases and get their house on the market to take advantage of the higher prices. That has happened. As you can see from the chart below, another datasource, Clarus MarketMetrics, shows the Median For Sale Price vs. the Median Sold price in Camarillo. And you can see that the gap between what properties are selling for and what properties are listed for is growing. This is bad for existing sellers. It means that many people thought they could overprice their property and let the market keep coming up to them. We haven't seen that prove out in the last 3 months. There either aren't enough buyers or the buyers simply won't pay the higher prices.
Also, we have seen a dramatic rise in the Expired Listings since the beginning of the year. In January, almost no listings were expiring because everything was getting sold. Now, the level has more than doubled as you can see from the chart below.
I expect the next few months to be fairly slow, but then to pick up again in January. If you are thinking about buying a home, these are all good signs for you as we begin to see values softening. More inventory means more choices which, generally speaking, means more affordable real estate. If you have been thinking about selling, this is not great news, but keep in mind that values are still up from last year by 14% in this particular area. In some areas, values are up even higher.
As you probably know…all real estate is local. The information I have shared here is based on the Camarillo Real Estate market. If you would like a more detailed analysis of your particular home, just let me know. I would be happy to provide you with that information.
Happy Thanksgiving!
