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Derigiberble t1_iu6bilk wrote

I know inventory is a bit sparse right now, but how much of that do you think is due to a market shift vs regular seasonality or the insane market earlier in the year pulling sales forward?

I'd also be interested in your informed guess about whether or not spring will bring the usual uptick in listings. My wife and I are getting our ducks in a row to buy and it would be nice to have a bit more selection (and some more competing listings to make sellers more willing to negotiate).

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Kindly_Boysenberry_7 OP t1_iu6ekva wrote

I think the inventory right now is sparse for all the reasons you named: market shift + normal seasonality + higher than normal sales activity since really June 2020.

We should see the normal uptick in listings in the Spring. Even if it's not as much as it's been in the past in a "normal" Spring, I just think we will have more to sell in the normally highest volume sales season. I guess if there is some insane world event, that could change. But I find it hard to imagine what that could be, absent something truly horrible that arises out of the Ukrainian war.

Keep in mind, while you will have more selection in the Spring, you will also have more competition in the Spring. More buyers will be out looking to buy, so more inventory doesn't necessarily translate into better negotiating power. Winter is typically when buyers have the most leverage over sellers, because generally buyers selling in the winter market really have to sell for some reason - death in the family, divorce, job relocation.

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Charlesinrichmond t1_iu71kny wrote

There's going to be a weird stall, not clear how much it will affect the spring Market but it's definitely there. Basically a huge amount of sellers are trapped by 3% mortgages. It's just not going to make any sense to sell out of those for a lot of people

And the building recession is already hitting tract housing so people are dialing back hard on supply

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