As the market adjusts to the rise in interest rates, we see a slowing of both pending and closed sales. However, the recent drop in listings is helping to keep months of inventory stubbornly low at 1.8. As move-up buyers (folks who need to sell their homes to buy) are back on their heels, this has resulted in more folks staying in their homes and may mean that inventory will remain at levels that keep us in "seller market" territory for a while. One thing that's certain is that sellers with a timeframe to sell their homes have to adjust their pricing to achieve that quick sale that used to be the rule.
You may have noticed that the Regional Market Listing System has added a statistic to its report: Inventory in Months of Readily Purchased & Occupied Listings. This statistic accounts for those homes that are only for sale if the seller can find a suitable replacement property and new construction or proposed homes that are not complete and ready to occupy. When we account for these restrictions, the inventory months drops to 1.6. It is hard to imagine that the listing inventory will pick up past the end of October, as most folks planning to sell usually try to do so before Winter sets in, so we could be in for another dry season of homes for sale. But for those buyers looking for better deals, the sellers who need to sell soon may present opportunities we have not seen for a while.