As the summer weather begins to cool into fall, the off-season for housing may offer up some of the best opportunities of the year for homebuyers. Generally speaking, we tend to see a combination of more listings, less competition from other buyers, and lower prices. In fact, the National Association of Realtors® recently published their fourth annual Best Time To Buy Report. According to this report, nationally, the best time to buy a home is the week of September 25 – October 1. Of course local market factors will vary.
The benefits of buying in early-fall
After a several year period of rapidly rising home prices, higher mortgage rates are helping facilitate more typical seasonal trends. Buying during this early-fall period may offer some benefits for buyers, including:
- Reduced prices: On average, we typically see approximately 5.2% of homes reducing their prices during this time period.
- Increased inventory of homes for sale: Although the inventory of active listings is still not back to pre-pandemic levels, we continue to see increases year-over-year. During this early-fall period, we may see approximately 46% more listings than this year’s average to date.
- Less competition from other buyers: In addition to higher mortgages impacting the number of buyers in the market, the early-fall period also brings competing factors such as back-to-school activities for many families.
- More time for buyers: Unlike what we have seen for the several year period during the pandemic, listings are remaining on the market for longer periods of time.
Summary
Given the fact that the above findings are national trends, it is important to understand that each local market will vary. For example, if buying an oceanfront condo in South Florida, you may find that there is less competition from other buyers in the summer months. The reason for this is because many of these units are purchased by seasonal residents that tend to be in the area during the late fall and winter months. As always, hiring a local, knowledgeable, and responsive real estate agent will be your best decision. Are you looking to buy a property in South Florida? Contact Natasha at Live South Florida Realty, Inc. today! Be sure to also download our free Florida Home Search app as well.
