According to a recent Realtor.com survey, some 70% of prospective sellers believe that now is a good time to sell, indicating that sellers nationwide are feeling upbeat as we approach this year’s Best Time to Sell. Today’s sellers are hopeful about selling this year due to their capacity to capitalize on the rising value of properties and their belief that buyer-offers would meet their asking price, even though market conditions are not a deciding factor.
Roughly 79% of prospective sellers are thinking about selling because they need more or less room, for work, family, or life events, or because they can no longer afford their current residence. 10% can no longer afford their existing house, some 34% need more room, 25% need to downsize, 21% need to move for family, 18% need to move for a life event like marriage, having children, or getting divorced, 15% need to move for work, such as going back to the office or getting a new job, and 15% need to relocate for work. However, 46% of respondents said that they were selling to find a different neighborhood, making location the primary factor.
“Spring is historically the best time to sell, and this year, sellers are entering the season with high expectations,” said Laura Eddy, VP of Research and Insights at Realtor.com. “Our survey found that many potential sellers feel confident they’ll not only sell quickly but also receive top dollar for their home. Despite their optimism, our survey suggests that potential sellers–especially those who have been waiting to sell for a year or more, still feel locked in due to interest rates.”
An estimated 81% of prospective sellers believe they will receive their asking price or more, 75% believe the selling process will take the typical amount of time or less, and 63% believe they won’t have to make any major or unexpected compromises.
Some 96% of prospective sellers have taken some action to start getting ready to sell their house. Approximately 71% of prospective sellers have looked up the value of their house, and 61% have looked up prices in their neighborhood.
Hopeful Sellers Looking to List Homes, But Many Remain “Locked In” by Mortgage Rates
In order to prepare their house for sale, one in three prospective sellers (38%) has performed some kind of home improvement. Seventy percent of those who made house improvements finished light renovations, which include repainting, upgrading fixtures, and light landscaping. More than half (59%) of prospective sellers who undertook renovations finished a significant renovation, including remodeling a kitchen or bathroom, and nearly two-thirds (65%) corrected items that would have been a problem during an inspection.
Six out of ten prospective sellers have initiated the listing process by taking definite, practical actions. Contacting a real estate agent has been the most popular procedure (36%), followed by listing a house for sale (22%), and conducting an inspection of the house being sold (27%).
“With the best time to sell approaching, sellers are optimistic and with a still-sizable nationwide housing shortage, there’s good reason to be,” said Hannah Jones, Senior Economic research analyst at Realtor.com. “Our research shows that the housing supply gap would take 7.5 years to close nationwide and much longer in some regions. At the same time, we’ve seen pronounced shifts in financial markets as the economy adjusts to new policies. It’s always a good idea to work with an expert, and this is even more true at a time when housing markets are evolving to reflect broader economic conditions.”
The majority of prospective sellers (46%) have been considering selling for one to two years, while nearly two out of three (61%) have been considering it for more than a year. Just 5% of prospective sellers say they have been considering a sale for longer than three years.
Mortgage rates are one of the main reasons why individuals are sitting on the sidelines. Approximately two-thirds (66%) of prospective house sellers intend to purchase another residence following their sale. Due to high mortgage rates, half of individuals with mortgages feel “locked in,” and this effect increases for those who have been considering selling for more than a year. Due to mortgage rates, more than half (55%) of people who have been considering selling their houses for more than a year feel stuck.
Over three-quarters (78%) of prospective sellers believe that interest rates will either remain unchanged or rise over the course of the next year. Of the prospective sellers who believe that rates would rise, 43% believe that this anticipation makes them more likely to sell, while 20% believe that a rate hike would make them less likely to do so. It’s interesting to note that 69% of prospective sellers who believe rates will drop say they are more likely to sell as a result. This implies that interest rate fluctuations influence prospective sellers’ propensity to list and that they are a motivating factor for them.
Compared to the West (72%), South (69%), and Midwest (65%), prospective sellers in the Northeast are significantly more likely to believe that now is a good time to sell a house (80%). Potential sellers in the West are more likely to believe they will receive a higher price than those in the Midwest, Northeast, and South. The Northeast is the most undersupplied region, according to Realtor.com research, and it witnessed the slowest growth in active and new listings year over year, which probably contributed to the region’s seller optimism.
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