Fewer Listings, Fewer Sales, Higher Prices

Here's a combination of numbers our team at Perch & Oak has been watching closely, and it shouldn't go together, yet here we are. In traditional (non-resort) Baldwin County neighborhoods this fall, closed sales fell almost 18% compared to last year, and new listings fell almost 19%. At the same time, the average sale price climbed nearly 7%, and homes are actually moving a little faster than they were.

Baldwin County, traditional neighborhoods

• Average sale price: $422,269, up 6.8% from last year
• Days on market: 67, down from 72
• Closed sales: 482, down 17.6%
• New listings: 604, down 18.7%

Mobile County

• Median sale price: $264,450
• Days on market: 83, up from 77
• Active listings: 1,573
• Homes sold: 1,326, up 3.5%

Fewer homes changing hands, fewer homes coming onto the market, and yet the ones that do sell are selling for more and sitting less. That's not a contradiction. It's the mortgage-rate lock-in effect showing up in your own backyard.

A lot of your neighbors bought or refinanced when rates were well under today's roughly 7.4%. Trading that loan for a new one at today's rate is an expensive move, so plenty of people who might otherwise list are simply choosing to stay. The result is a quieter shelf than usual, not because demand dried up, but because supply did.

Your neighbors' hesitation is your opening.

If you do list right now, you're not competing with the usual crowd of comparable homes down the street. There's less company on the shelf, buyers who've been circling a tight market for months are ready to move when the right listing appears, and the data says prices are holding (even climbing) while they wait.

One caution: thin inventory is not a license to overprice. Buyers are still watching their monthly payment closely in a 7%-plus rate environment, so the fundamentals from Price It Right, Or Watch It Sit still apply. Less competition helps you; it doesn't replace a realistic number.

If you've been waiting to see what the market does before you list, this is usually the month we'd tell you to keep waiting. Not this one. Let's talk with our team at Perch & Oak about what a quieter shelf means for your specific street.

Be Home.
Leslie Davis, AL License #72650
Perch & Oak Property Group