Roseville, Calif. – Existing-home sales dropped in February as the number of homes for-sale continued to decline.Â
According to the National Association of REALTORS(r), the low inventory is causing home prices to rise faster than expected. This is happening all across the nation with the Northeast and Midwest seeing the largest declines in sales. Here in the West existing-home sales fell 3.4 percent to an annual rate of 1.13 million in February, but remain 0.9 percent higher than a year ago. The median price was $308,800 , seven percent higher than a year ago.
The housing market is failing to keep pace with what had been a strong start to 2016, says Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. “Sales took a considerable step back in most of the country last month, and especially in the Northeast and Midwest,” Yun says. “The main issue continues to be a supply and affordability problem. Finding the right property at an affordable price is burdening many potential buyers.”
At MagnumOne Realty we have been working with several buyers who have made multiple over asking price offers and lose out to even higher offers or cash buyers. We just put a client in contract yesterday after ten previous offers were not accepted.
The drop in home sales comes at a time when nationwide job growth is growing. However, more households are showing some uneasiness about the economy and questioning whether it’s starting to lose some of its momentum.
Entering into the busy spring selling season, the overall demand for buying seems solid, but home prices increasing faster than wages and anxiety about the economy are holding back a segment of buyers and sellers.
