The supply of homes for sale is at record lows. That has potential buyers one-upping one another in bidding wars that cause homes to sell for tens, even hundreds of thousands of dollars over list price. khouriandrew reports:
In addition to historically low borrowing costs, severalcontinue to fuel today’s competitive market with fast-rising prices. More millennials want to become first-time buyers, and investors are increasingly buying homes to rent or flip. In addition, many white-collar workers did well financially during the pandemic and put some of their booming stock portfolios into down payments.
In November, the biggest price rises from a year earlier were in the Southland’s less-expensive counties of Riverside and San Bernardino, which each hit new median home price records. , with real estate agents reporting bidding wars are less intense but still common. Competition for homes typically wanes in fall and winter, so it’s difficult to know how much of the slowdown is the result of normal seasonal patterns versus a market that will be better for buyers in the long run.
This slight acceleration of year-over-year price increases the last two months could indicate a pickup in price appreciation is underway, but Hepp said she doesn’t believe that’s the case. The pickup is probably due to more luxury homes selling, therefore pushing the median value slightly higher, rather than a true price acceleration, she said.