While retail business picks up as the Holiday season arrives, the real estate market tends to slow down. November is the month that kicks off the Holiday season with Thanksgiving and the beginning of Hanukkah and the November real estate numbers, as expected, show signs of easing off the gas pedal. By no means is the market hitting the brakes, but it does appear to be coasting into the new year.
The two biggest indicators of the slowing market are the number of new listings and the average days on market. The 32.7 days on market is the longest since the end of March, when the average days on market was 52.9. Since the end of March, houses have been flying off the market at an incredible rate — just look at the August average days on market. September was the first month that we saw signs of the market slowing down and going at a more manageable speed, and that trend has continued through November.
As far as the number of new listings, only 39 houses were introduced to the market in November. That’s the fewest since January of this year when only 38 were introduced and it continues the typical (seasonally adjusted) trend of fewer and fewer new listings as the New Year arrives.
While fewer new listings were introduced, the sales numbers continued to be strong. The number of sold listings increased from 55 in October to 59 in November, showing that there are still buyers who are ready, willing and able if the right property comes available.
The historically low interest rates are holding constant after a period of steady increases, so we’ll reiterate what we said last month — If you want to capture the best possible rates, and to be able to purchase the most house possible, we’d encourage starting your home search sooner than later!
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