Home shoppers the week of Sept. 22 will find less competition, more price reductions and a larger amount of inventory, making this week the “Black Friday” of real estate, according to a new study released Friday by realtor.com
Of the 53 markets tracked by the real estate listing portal, 41 markets reported the week of Sept. 22-28 as the best time of the year to buy a home.
“As summer winds down and kids return to school, many families hit pause on their home search and wait until the next season to start again,” George Ratiu, senior economist of realtor.com, said in a statement. “With dramatically less competition, persistent buyers will feel the scales tip in their favor as eager sellers begin to cut their prices in an effort to entice a sale.”
“As seasonal inventory builds up and restores itself to more buyer-friendly levels, fall buyers will be in a better position to take advantage of today’s low mortgage rates and increased purchasing power,” Raitu added.
In the last three years, buyers face, on average, 26 percent less competition, with 6.1 percent more homes on the market than the average week, according to metro-level data compiled by realtor.com from 2016 to 2018. Nearly 6 percent of homes go through price reductions this week and tend to be 2.4 percent cheaper than at their peak, the study found.
“As seasonal inventory builds up and restores itself to more buyer-friendly levels, fall buyers will be in a better position to take advantage of today’s low mortgage rates and increased purchasing power,” Raitu added.
Data courtesy realtor.com
The impact of the lower competition and increase in price reductions will be most strongly realized in the West, where buyers have almost 30 percent less competition than the average week. List prices are down 4 percent and nearly 9 percent of homes will see a reduction.