Buying in an Inventory Constrained Market

Buyers have understandably been cautious about buying the last few years but we have passed the bottom of the market a while ago now and the longer the hesitation the more it costs.

The  bottom of the market as far as prices went was in 2010/2011 and prices have steadily gone up since then.  Sales began their recovery in December 2010 and have gone up consistently since then.  This is a typical pattern where sale increase and then prices start their recovery 6-18 months later.

When sales increased without a comparable increase in properties available for sale, we started to experience a decrease in inventory available which has been at very low levels for over 2 years now and have, along with continued strong demand and sales, resulted in significant increases in prices.

For buyers, this has made the buying experience a more challenging one because there is less available to purchase which means that they can’t be as selective as they could 3-4 years ago and they have to be prepared to act quickly when they do find something they want to buy because well-priced, good properties sell quickly and the potential for having to compete with other buyers is always looming.

So what are your choices?

You could wait until things get easier.  If you’re not really serious about buying but would buy ‘if the right place came along’ this probably would be your best course to take.  It may be a few years though and you will be paying more.

You could wait until you could get more for the property you are selling (if you are moving, upsizing or downsizing).  But keep in mind that if the property you’d be selling goes up 20% then the property you’d be buying would go up a similar percentage and the associated costs would go up too.  So at best it would be a wash and at worst you’d be in a worse situation than if you bought now.

You could buy now.  If you are selling and then buying you might not get as much on the sale as you would a year or two from now but you also would be paying less for the purchase than you would at that same time in the future.  It may be more challenging now due to the market conditions but if you are prepared and have someone working with you that knows how to get results in this market then you can get what you want now and not have a future where you are saying how you wished you had acted back in 2014.

If you want help buying now but have concerns, email or call me and let me help you with your concerns.