Normal Market

Posted at 10:21 AM, Jul. 30, 2006

As you may have heard or even experienced, homes are taking longer to sell now than this time last year.  The California Association of Realtors compile an unsold inventory index.  This index tracks the number of months it would take to sell all of the homes currently listed with Realtors.  Last year at this time the index was at 2.2 months. Presently, the index is at 6.2 months.   6 months is considered a normal market. 

It has been a long time since we have seen a normal market.  So long in fact that this market seems slow to many. The last 5 years have been a very strong sellers market.  In a sellers market, there is strong buyer interest and multiple offers made by buyers on homes in a very short period of time.  In this last sellers market some homes were listed in the morning and sold in the afternoon at prices above the listing price. 

Don't be fooled.  The strong sellers market has become a normal market.  Adjust and profit.