Prices are easing downward as the chokehold on inventory across the U.S. loosens.
The distressed properties that investors snapped up in bulk during the economic downturn are finally coming to market along with new home projects — indicating spring will be a strong selling season.
Prices “won’t be rising as much as they were rising last spring,” Jed Kolko, chief economist of online property listings site Trulia, told Bloomberg News. “It will be a less frantic market with more inventory and fewer investors.”
As supply increases, coupled with higher mortgage rates that could slash demand, buyers should be able to avoid the bidding wars that cropped up last year when supply was at a 12-year low, according to Bloomberg. That’s good news for markets that have been squeezed recently, like Orlando, Phoenix and San Francisco. It remains to be seen if the market in New York City will follow the nationwide trend — a recent poll showed that residential brokers were wary of low volume in the fourth quarter of 2013. [Bloomberg News] — Angela Hunt