AMID INCREASING INTEREST RATES AND UNCERTAIN ECONOMIC CONDITIONS, WE’RE SEEING MODERATE INCREASES IN HOME INVENTORY, AND BUYERS MAY FIND THE BALANCE OF POWER SHIFTING SLIGHTLY IN THEIR FAVOR.
Buyers—finally—are breathing a sigh of relief.
“Even though inventory has increased, buyers aren’t quite yet in the driver’s seat,” says Shelton Wilder, sales associate, at Sotheby’s International Realty–Brentwood Brokerage. That said, “there is a slight change in negotiating power and keeping contingencies in place.”
While more homes may come onto the market in the coming months, don’t expect to see inventory increase overnight, says Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of REALTORS®. Total inventory was at 1.22 million units at the end of October 2022, up from the seasonal low in January 2022 of 850,000. The October number was down 0.8% from both September 2022 and October 2021. In October 2022, there was a 3.3-month supply, up from 3.1 months in September 2022 and 2.4 months in October 2021.
“We don’t anticipate a large increase because many homeowners won’t want to give up their low-interest rate from refinancing or purchasing over the last two years,” Yun says. “We may see some moderate increases, but not anything drastic.”
Learn what’s in store for luxury real estate in 2023.
The Sotheby’s International Realty® Luxury Outlook is an ambitious exploration into high-end residential markets across the globe. In this report, we follow the trends that are likely to shape the coming months across the world’s prime housing markets, from the resurgence of urban cities to the return of the international buyer.
