market graphs

Don’t get stuck on home prices…

May 2, 2022 By Ryan Lundquist 7 Comments

What are prices doing? That’s always the question, and I get it. But there are bigger fish to fry to understand what the housing market is doing.

Market webinar: On Thursday May 19th at 10am I’ll be doing a deep market update webinar through SAR to talk about the latest trends. We’ll have an hour, so we can go over a ton of stuff. Sign up here.

A shift: Over the past few weeks there has been a shift in demand, which is why this conversation is so important. This isn’t about doom and gloom. I’m just saying we need to look at other things besides prices.

The last time: Let’s look at what happened when the market changed in 2005. There’s some helpful insight here, even though what happened last time isn’t the new template for every future correction.

WHY PRICES ARE THE LAST PLACE TO LOOK

Not that much different: The real estate bubble burst in Sacramento County in August 2005, but prices were only down 4-6% during that first year. When thinking of a pop, that doesn’t sound like much, right?

TWO THINGS TO WATCH INSTEAD:

The real story was volume: Prices saw a modest dip, but sales volume was imploding. There was a 43% change in the number of sales between August 2005 and August 2006. Some could’ve said, “Meh, prices are only down slightly,” but the glaring issue was nine hundred fewer sales in August 2006 compared to August 2005.

The real story was supply: Prices dipped slightly, but housing supply increased by 207% in the background. In other words, housing inventory went from 2.6 months to 8.0 months the next summer. And this helped set the stage for a massive collapse in 2007.

THE BIG POINT:

Prices were about the last place to look to understand the trend at the time. The real story was seen when looking at listings and volume.

What to watch: If you want to see what the housing market is doing, I suggest giving strong attention to the number of listings, the number of weekly pending contracts, and the number of sales. There are many other things to watch, but are buyers willing to continue to play the market? That’s the big question, and we’ll see the answer in volume before prices. Of course, if you want to sound suave on date night, watch other things like price reductions, the number of offers, days on market, etc… I’m talking through lots of these things every week. If you’re not local, check out the Redfin Data Center for weekly stats.

Whatever you do, don’t get stuck on prices alone.

Getting buyers to walk: As I said last week, price growth slowed in April compared to truly exuberant gains between January and March. Today we are seeing slow traffic in general at open houses, more price reductions, and buyers having an easier time getting offers accepted (not always). This really happened quickly too over the past few weeks. Overall, buyers are far more sensitive to price, condition, and location, which means sellers need to be open to negotiation. I’ve heard a few examples of buyers walking after sellers said, “Yo, Bestie, thanks for the offer. Now give me $25K more and remove the appraisal contingency.” That might have worked in January, but this is May. It’s a different market today. I’m also hearing more examples of, “We priced it right, but we aren’t getting any action yet.”

Embracing stats: The other day someone wasn’t happy because I wouldn’t call this dynamic the start of a market correction, but the truth is we need time and stats to understand the longer-term trend. This is not me sugarcoating. This is me being objective. Let’s keep watching the numbers (by the week) and letting the stats form our narrative.

MARKET STATS: I’ll have lots of market stats out this week on my social channels, so watch Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

Thanks for being here.

Questions: What stands out to you most in this post? What did I miss? I’d love to hear your take.

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The housing market feels like chaos

April 13, 2021 By Ryan Lundquist 29 Comments

It feels like chaos out there. The housing market is on steroids and it’s mind-blowing to see such rapid growth lately. Today I want to unpack ten things I’m watching in today’s market. For my out-of-area readers, I’m guessing you are probably seeing the same trends. But please let me know. What is similar or different in your area?

MARKET UPDATE PRESENTATION: I’m giving a big presentation next week by Zoom for SAFE Credit Union. It’s free and you are invited to sign up here. It could be useful for background noise while working. Hope to see you there.

10 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE MARKET

Skim or read in depth. The following post is organized around ten points.

1) PRICES ARE INSANE:

We’ve seen enormous price increases lately. It’s mind-blowing to see 20% increases because the market really was slowing down in recent years. Also, the median price in the region is up nearly 9% from two months ago in January.

Here’s a different way to look at prices. The orange line represents 2021. It’s an outlier market, right?

2) BUYERS MADE TWICE AS MANY OFFERS LAST MONTH:

Buyers made twice as many offers last month compared to the previous year. These figures are based on closed sales and MLS data.

3) MORE BUYERS ARE OFFERING 5-10% ABOVE THE ORIGINAL PRICE:

Here’s a look at what buyers are paying right now in relation to the original list price. One of the glowing stats is we’ve seen about five times as many buyers paying 5-10% above the original list price this year. Wild times, right? Of course only six percent of sales sold below the original list price last month too, which reminds us very few properties are overpriced. Yet nearly one in five sales sold at the original list price. I know, that almost seems like an error, but it’s really not because take a look at last year which represents what should be happening. As you can see if we were having a normal year we’d probably be seeing about half of all sales selling at the original list price.

Takeaway: Be cautious about saying everything is selling 20% above the list price. The stats don’t support that claim.

4) HOUSING SUPPLY HAS BEEN CHOPPED IN HALF:

I feel like a broken record. Housing supply is about half of what it was last year. The truth is we have weeks of listings and months of buyers.

5) SALES VOLUME HAS BEEN UP FOR TEN MONTHS IN A ROW:

There aren’t enough listings out there to satisfy demand, but for ten months in a row buyers have been buying basically everything, which means we’ve been able to surpass numbers from last year. Some people don’t believe it when I tell them this, but it’s the truth. In short, it is not easy out there, but buyers are getting it done.

NOTE: I have images like these for Placer, El Dorado, and Sacramento County too. Send me an email if you need something.

6) MORE LISTINGS ARE FINALLY COMING:

We are starting to see more listings hit the market. It really is a normal seasonal amount so far, so it’s nothing to write home over, BUT during a pandemic anything that feels close to normal is something we covet. Granted, there are not enough listings to satisfy crazy demand yet or slow down the market, but at the least we’ve seen more lately.

Mortgage applications drop: Speaking of shopping for homes, for three weeks in a row we’ve seen mortgage applications drop. This seems to be a reflection of rising rates and prices lately and it’s one small metric to watch to get a sense of demand in the market.

7) THE REST OF THE COUNTRY FEELS LIKE SACRAMENTO:

I love this image from Altos Research because it helps show depleted inventory is something happening across the entire country. This is a good reminder because it’s tempting for locals to blame the aggressive market on Bay Area buyers when in fact many markets feel just like this. I’m not diminishing the reality of what seems like increased Bay Area migration, but let’s not forget we’re seeing an ultra-competitive market almost everywhere due to crazy low rates and anemic housing supply during the pandemic.

8) IT’S NOT A DISTRESSED MARKET:

There is so much talk about a coming foreclosure wave, but for now it doesn’t look like there is one on the horizon as forbearance rates are heading in the right direction. We are still in the thick of the pandemic of course, so we are certainly not out of the woods. All I’m saying is I’d recommend being cautious about embracing a doom and gloom narrative because so far the stats don’t support this idea. Let’s stay tuned though. And for the record I will be the first to change my narrative if the stats change… In terms of distressed sales at the moment, we really have bottomed out. It’s hard to get too much lower than 0.39% of sales being bank-owned and 0.30% of sales being short sales.

9) HUGE GROWTH AT THE TOP:

The market is very much top heavy right now. What I mean is we’ve seen explosive growth at higher prices – especially above $1M. This is a dynamic being mirrored in many markets across the country too.

BIG TAKEAWAY: When talking about price stats being 20% higher it’s important to realize some of that growth has to do with the types of homes selling. In short, less at the bottom and more at the top naturally elevates price stats.

10) CONVENTIONAL IS MORE DOMINANT THAN CASH:

The narrative is that cash buyers are gutting the market, but it’s not technically true. Cash really isn’t king these days because it’s so cheap to borrow money. Locally we’re seeing 7 out of 10 sales go conventional. BUT cash is absolutely winning when conventional buyers can bridge the appraisal gap and offer other incentives to the seller. It’s not so easy to get an FHA offer accepted either, but at least 1 out of 10 sales were FHA last quarter.

BONUS: Here are two visuals to show what the median price looks like over the past few decades. In one visual I adjusted for inflation too (which can be an important consideration when comparing today with 2005). Here are some thoughts on how long this market can keep going.

Other visuals: Not that you needed more, but check out my social media in coming days and weeks for extra visuals and commentary. I am posting daily stuff on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Oh, and sometimes Instagram.

Thanks for being here.

Questions: What stands out to you about the market lately? I’d love to hear your take.

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Peaking prices & rosy real estate narratives

September 13, 2019 By Ryan Lundquist 10 Comments

People tend to freak out when prices slow down. What’s going on? Is the market crashing? But every year around this time we start to see the market soften. Let’s talk about this, and then for those interested I have a big market update.

1) Slowing is normal: Prices have likely crested for the season in many areas of the country. What I mean there’s a good chance we’ve more or less seen the highest prices we’re going to see for 2019 as the market is starting to show its descent from the high-altitude spring season. This happens EVERY. SINGLE. YEAR. It doesn’t mean it’s not competitive either. It just means it starts to take longer to sell, the number of sales begins to shrink, and prices tend to taper.

2) The rosy real estate narrative: It can be a struggle for many people when hearing the market is slowing. It’s like we are only allowed to talk about real estate in glowing terms and our talking points must fit into a rosy narrative. So when there’s any hint of news that sounds even slightly negative, it feels like something is wrong. What do you mean prices aren’t going up? Wait, they’re softening? Does that mean the market is about to turn? Remember, just as it’s not always sunny outside, real estate isn’t always burning hot either.

3) The mistake of misinterpreting slowness: On the other side of the coin we tend to see lots of doom and gloom conversations around this time of year as the market softens. My advice? Know what is normal for the fall season so you can assess whether it’s a normal seasonal slowing or something more. In other words, let the stats speak to you and inform your real estate narrative. Otherwise you may be swayed by sensational headlines or get sucked into a real estate culture that sometimes struggles when things aren’t ultra-positive.

Any thoughts?

—–——– Big local monthly market update (long on purpose) —–——–

Now for those interested, let’s talk about Sacramento trends. If I had to sum up the market I’d say things have felt a little more normal lately. Granted, low mortgage rates are like a steroid helping the market feel normal, but nonetheless stats have been about what we’d expect for this time of year – which is unlike the dark season we experienced last year at the same time.

DOWNLOAD 80+ visuals: Please download all graphs here as a zip file. See my sharing policy for 5 ways to share (please don’t copy verbatim).

THE SHORT VERSION:

Stats feel mostly normal
California will now have rent control
Year-over-year price growth is stronger
Don’t be like Michael Jordan
Volume was down slightly in August
Listings are seriously anemic
Pendings are strong right now
Sales volume is down 9% this year
The market is slowing for the season

THE LONGER VERSION:

Here are some of the bigger topics right now:

Normal and cresting prices: We’re seeing about what we’d expect to see right now with prices starting to soften. I’d say prices have likely crested for the season. It’s possible we could see some price metrics bounce up slightly due to low mortgage rates, but that usually doesn’t happen beyond August much. Besides, any sales from September really reflect older pendings from July and August anyway.

Rent control: Statewide rent control in California was just passed by the legislature. There is going to be a learning curve for the real estate community on how to deal with this from a value perspective too. We may need years to really understand the effect on the housing market. Keep in mind this only applies to 2-unit+ properties built prior to 1995 (it does not apply to single family homes). Also, this doesn’t mean rents won’t increase either because landlords can legally raise rents 5% plus inflation each year.

14th bubble anniversary: The real estate “bubble” popped fourteen years ago in Sacramento in August 2005. In other parts of the country the market started to turn in 2007, but we started to tank in 2005. So happy anniversary, I guess.

Michael Jordan’s house: In 2012 Michael Jordan’s house was put on the market for $29 million and after seven years it still hasn’t sold. It’s now listed for about $15M. This just goes to show buyers aren’t willing to pay any price – even if the owner is famous. This is a great object lesson for sellers today who are prone to think they can command whatever price they want since inventory is low. Nope. Buyers are extremely sensitive to paying the right price and they’re more informed than ever. If you want to sell you need to price it right. Bottom line.

Slowing doesn’t mean it’s cold: The market isn’t slow, but it’s starting to show signs of slowing for the season as it’s taking longer to sell, most price metrics declined from July to August, and sales volume looks to be starting to slough for the year as it normally does. This doesn’t mean the market is cold though. Not at all. It’s just not as hot as it was during the spring. Over the next month I’d expect the market to heat up a bit though since kids are back in school and vacations are done. There is usually a last run on the market before the holidays arrive.

Almost 8 years of price increases: In the current real estate price cycle we’ve had about eight years of price growth so far. When I say eight, some people correct me with seven, but that’s not accurate if you count every year since 2012. I also have a chart like this for Placer, Yolo, & El Dorado County in my monthly download.

Stronger price growth: Prices are up about 4-5% from last year, which is a change from a more subtle 2-3% we’ve been seeing for most of the year. What’s going on? Part of the growth could stem from low mortgage rates fueling buyers to play the game, but let’s remember too last year was a dull time in the market, which means it’s going to be easier on paper this year to see glowing stats (more on that below). Let’s not make too much of one month of data.

Really sparse listings lately: The number of listings has been noticeably down. I mean, we’re seeing multiple hundreds fewer per month these days. Technically housing inventory as a metric is on the lower side of normal these days, but there have been fewer listings hitting the market (remember, inventory as a metric measures the relationship between listings and sales rather than the number of actual listings). I’ve been thinking about what’s going on here for a number of months and I’ll admit I don’t have it all figured out. Part of it of course is pendings have been stronger, which naturally means there’s fewer available listings. And maybe some would-be sellers refinanced into a lower rate rather than selling. I don’t think this is the byproduct of the iBuyer model with so many listings selling privately instead of coming to the market, but some properties certainly sold this way. Mostly I would guess this is related to sellers feeling uncertain about the market. Just as buyers had their moment last year where they backed off the market a bit, maybe sellers are feeling it’s their turn? There could be other reasons. This is something I’ll keep watching to understand over time. I’d love to hear your take here.

Warning about glowing stats ahead: Hey stat nerds, this is important. Over the next few months if we have fairly normal numbers they could end up looking glorious since last year the market was in a slump. If you remember, when mortgage rates shot up in 2018 buyers began to put their foot on the brakes and it felt like there was a dark cloud looming for about six months. Anyway, when you’re pulling stats over these next two quarters, just remember the numbers might technically look glowing this year compared with last year. My advice? Take stats with a grain of salt and compare multiple years of data rather than give laser focus to last year.

I could write more, but let’s get visual instead.

FOUR ISSUES TO WATCH:

1) SLOWER GROWTH: The market continues to show price growth, but the rate of change is slowing. This sounds offensive to some because the narrative in real estate is often that the market is always blazing hot. But let’s remember “slow” is not a dirty word in real estate.

2) A QUICK RECAP: All year prices have shown a modest uptick at about 1-3%, but this past month the stats look a bit sexier. Part of this could be due to lower mortgage rates, but some of it could be due to the market showing weakness last year (which helps pad today’s stats).

3) VOLUME SLUMP: Volume was lower last month compared to August 2018, but not by much. The bigger story though is volume is down in the region by 9% over the past year. Moreover, volume has been down in the region for 14 out of the last 15 months. Overall despite a lower year of volume, it’s still not outside of a normal low range (see 2014 and 2015).

4) PRICES SOFTENED IN AUGUST: The market generally slowed in August in terms of price growth. This is why I’m saying prices feel a bit flat (even though they’re up from last year). This is fairly normal for the time of year, and sometimes we see prices bounce up and down as summer comes to a close. Stay tuned. Let’s keep watching.

NOTE: Take El Dorado County data with a grain of salt. Stats change significantly month by month.

Thanks for respecting my content: Please don’t copy my post verbatim or alter the images in any way. I will always show respect for your original work and give you full credit, so I ask for that same courtesy. Here are 5 ways to share my content.

Please enjoy more images now.

SACRAMENTO REGION (more graphs here):

SACRAMENTO COUNTY (more graphs here):

PLACER COUNTY (more graphs here):

EL DORADO COUNTY (more graphs here):

DOWNLOAD 80+ visuals: Please download all graphs here as a zip file. See my sharing policy for 5 ways to share (please don’t copy verbatim).

Questions: What are you seeing out there? What do you think prices are doing? What are you hearing from buyers and sellers lately?

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That awkward moment when the market changes

July 13, 2016 By Ryan Lundquist 20 Comments

Have you ever met someone who looked really good on the outside, but the inside was a different story? That’s sort of like the housing market right now. Sales stats look super attractive, but if we really consider listings and other metrics we begin to see a different story. The market is slowing. Since it’s not always easy to explain that, here are a few analogies to help describe how important it is to look beyond just sales to gauge the temperature of the market. Then for those interested, let’s take a deep look at Sacramento trends. Any thoughts?

Examples to explain the market when it begins to slow:

First Date: A first date is all about putting your best foot forward, and that’s exactly why we usually need more than just one good date to make up our mind about someone (gotta be sure the person is not psycho). The same thing happens with real estate. Shining sales stats are like a first date because they lure us in and make us feel good. But we can’t really judge an entire market just by the sales. We need to consider listings and other metrics too.
Taking the Temperature in the Shade: If you take the temperature in the shade in the summer, you’re going to get a much different reading. The same thing happens in real estate where we can get the wrong temperature of the market if we only focus on sales instead of listings and other factors.
Judging by one Tweet: These days it’s easy to judge a person by one tweet instead of looking at their wider body of work (their life). The same thing happens in real estate when we only look at sales instead of listings and other stats. If our vision is too narrow, we might not see what the market is actually doing.
Pregnancy Test: I asked my author wife for an analogy and she said the market is like a pregnancy test (I wouldn’t ever have thought of that). You can technically be pregnant but an over-the-counter test won’t tell you that for a couple of weeks. Similarly, the market may have changed, but we may not see a price difference in sales for a month or two. But the change is definitely there when we look at listings and other metrics.
Pokemon: I’m just kidding. I won’t go there.

In a small way, I hope this was helpful. It’s very powerful to explain the market in different ways. Any other analogies to share?

—————– For those interested, here is my big market update —————–

Two ways to read the BIG POST:

Scan the talking points and graphs quickly.
Grab a cup of coffee and spend time digesting what is here.

DOWNLOAD 80+ graphs HERE: Please download all graphs in this post (and more) here as a zip file. Use them for study, for your newsletter, or some on your blog. See my sharing policy for 5 ways to share (please don’t copy verbatim). Thanks.

Quick Market Summary: On paper the market has been hot. We’ve seen all the normal stuff like price increases, slightly higher sales volume in 2016, and sparse housing inventory. If you didn’t know, the median price in Sacramento County is 105% higher than it was in 2012 and 16% lower than the peak in 2005. Distressed sales actually reached their lowest level since 2009 last quarter too. Cash sales volume has been hovering at a normal level while FHA sales volume has been declining. Overall the market is still really competitive, but it’s starting to turn. Keep in mind it’s common for real estate to lose some steam around mid-Summer. While the sales stats don’t show it yet, we see a slower market with the sales-to-list price ratio declining last month from the previous month, it took the same amount of average days to sell for the past two months in the region, and there has been a slightly more optimistic tone among real estate professionals about buyers getting into contract. While it felt utterly hopeless to get an offer accepted a few months ago in certain price ranges, it is starting to feel slightly more hopeful based on feedback from agents. Moreover, it seems like there has been growing price resistance lately (particularly at the higher end of the market). The market has been price sensitive all year as buyers are not fooled by absurdly high prices, but the sensitivity seems more heightened right now.

Sacramento County:

FHA volume has been about 24% of the market (it was nearly 27% of the market last year at the same time).
Cash volume is roughly the same as it was last year at the same time (around 16% of the market).
It took an average of 25 days to sell a home last month, which is 2 days less than the previous month (and 5 less days compared to last year).
REOs were only 2.9% of all sales last quarter (lowest level in years).
Sales volume is up very slightly Q2 2016 compared to Q2 2015.
There is only 1.38 months of housing supply in Sacramento County, which is 14% lower than it was last year at the same time.
The median price increased by 3.5% last month.
The median price is 13% higher than the same time last year.
The avg price per sq ft increased by 1.4% last month.
The avg price per sq ft is 9.7% higher than the same time last year.

Some of my Favorite Graphs this Month:

inventory - June 2016 - by home appraiser blog

CDOM in Sacramento County - by Sacramento Regional Appraisal Blog REOs and Short Sales in Sacramento - 1 inventory in sacramento county Since 2013 - part 2 - by sacramento appraisal blog

Cash & FHA sales in sacramento county

median price context in sacramento county price metrics since 2015 in sacramento county - look at all

june market in sacramento - by sacramento regional appraisal blog 2

layers of the market in sacramento county - by sacramento appraisal blog

Bottom of the Market in Sacramento

SACRAMENTO REGIONAL MARKET:

It took the same amount of time to sell last month as it did the previous month (though 3 less days to sell this June compared to last June).
Sales volume is up slightly in 2016 compared to 2015.
Cash volume is about the same this year (16% of the market for Q2).
FHA volume is down 7.5% so far this year in the region.
The sales to list price ratio was 98% in the region last month.
There is 1.6 months of housing supply in the region right now, which is 13.5% lower than it was last year at the same time.
The median price increased 3.6% last month from the previous month.
The median price is 11% higher than the same time last year.
The avg price per sq ft increased by nearly 1% last month.
The avg price per sq ft is 8.9% higher than the same time last year.

Some of my Favorite Regional Graphs:

sales volume 2015 vs 2016 in sacramento placer yolo el dorado county

sacramento region volume - FHA and conventional - by appraiser blog

days on market in placer sac el dorado yolo county by sacramento appraisal blog interest rates inventory median price in sacramento regional market by sacramento appraisal blog - market median price and inventory in sacramento regional market 2013 median price sacramento placer yolo el dorado county Regional Inventory - by Sacramento regional appraisal blog Regional market median price - by home appraiser blog

PLACER COUNTY:

It took 4 less days to sell a house last month than the previous month (and 3 less days than last year at the same time).
Sales volume was up about 1% in June 2016 compared to last June and is down slightly for the year (about 2%).
FHA sales were 17% of all sales last month and cash sales were 13% of all sales last month.
There is 1.7 months of housing supply in Placer County right now.
Housing inventory is 8.5% lower than it was last year at the same time.
The median price increased 0.5% from the previous month and is up 7% from last year at the same time.
The average price per sq ft was $212 last month (was $200 last year at the same time).
The average price per sq ft is up 1.4% from the previous month and 6% from last year at the same time.
Bank owned sales were only 1% of all sales last month.
Short sales were 1.9% of sales last month.

Some of my Favorite Placer County Graphs:

days on market in placer county by sacramento appraisal blog months of housing inventory in placer county by sacramento appraisal blog number of listings in PLACER county - 2016 Placer County housing inventory - by home appraiser blog Placer County price and inventory - by sacramento appraisal blog Placer County sales volume - by sacramento appraisal blog

Question: Any other market insight you’d like to add? I’d love to hear your take.

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