Why you should consider buying right now

Posted by Dan Miller, REALTOR on Wednesday, November 29th, 2017 at 7:28am.

The hot spring market seems to come a little earlier to Madison with each passing year, as buyers seek to get a jump on their competition. Last year the market really heated up in February, as can be seen in the graph below. 

Each bar on this graph represents a snapshot of the Madison single family home market taken mid-month. In February of 2016 only 35% of all single family home listings were under contract with an accepted offer. In February of 2017 the percentage jumped to 51%. In other words, if you were searching for listings online in February of 2017, over half of the listings you viewed were already spoken for and scheduled to close soon. The market stayed this tight all the way through the month of June.

 

2018 will be another low supply market

We recently released our Madison real estate predictions for 2018, and all signs point to another year of high demand, low supply, and rising prices. We're predicting less than 2 months of housing supply throughout all of 2018, home prices to rise by at least 5%, and condo prices to increase by at least 8%. 

Price increases will amplify next spring

Bidding wars are most common in the springtime, and they're occurring with greater frequency. In 2016, the percentage of listings with multiple offers peaked at 35% in the month of May. In 2017, the percentage was above 40% in March, April, and May.

As supply remains historically low, we're expecting another very intense spring in 2018. Many buyers will do whatever it takes to get their offer accepted, and as a result there will be plenty of houses that sell for "irrational" prices next spring. 

If you do not want to compete or cannot compete...

Then right now is the time to buy. If you're a first-time home buyer with limited funds, your window of opportunity is right now. If you need to sell your home in order to buy another, your prospects are much better right now than they are in the spring. 

The real estate landscape is full of hyperbole and contradictory opinions, and it can be hard to know when you're receiving good information. We've put a lot of thought and research into this article, and we stand behind it one-hundred percent. Although the holiday season is not commonly accepted as a good time to buy, for many people the month of December is their best window of opportunity in the year ahead. 

This article is published courtesy of:
Dan Miller, REALTOR
Mad City Dream Homes & RE/MAX Preferred
1619 Monroe Street #1, Madison, WI, 53711

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