This season, the real estate market is hot, and if you’ve been waiting for the right time to start looking for a home again, now is a great time to do it, and the best week to buy a house this year is just around the corner.
The experts of Real estate agent.com study seasonal trends to determine the ideal week for home buyers:
“Nationally, the best time to buy in 2024 is the week of September 29 through October 5. Historically, this week has shown the best balance of market conditions favoring buyers. “Inventory tends to be high, prices are below peak levels, demand is declining and the pace of the market is slowing to a more manageable speed.”
In addition to historical trends and typical seasonality that Real estate agent.com reviews, there are also clear indicators in today’s market data indicating that we will see better conditions now than we would have had in recent years.
Mortgage rates have just hit their lowest point in 19 months, and that contributes greatly to improving purchasing power and affordability. Andy Walden with Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (ICE) points out:
“The recent easing of mortgage rates brought long-awaited relief to potential homebuyers. Coupled with a general cooling in home price growth, and rates falling below 6.5 percent made August the most affordable month for housing since February..”
And Ralph McLaughlin, senior economist at real estate agent.com, explains It is not just the rates that have improved – inventory also has:
“The number of homes for sale remains high compared to last year, growing by 35.8%, a tenth consecutive month of growth, and It is now at the highest level since May 2020..”
That should provide buyers more options. At the same time, marketers now have to compete with each other to get your attention. That means they’ll be more likely to… negotiate because they know their home will stay on the market longer if they don’t. Like Zillow says:
“Buyers waiting on the sidelines may find that early fall presents an “ideal time.” where there is less competition from other buyers, more motivated sellers and lower interest rates to finance their purchases.”
