Home Buyers Find Bidding Wars Again

Home buyers nationwide are being caught by surprise as the spring selling season swings into high gear. Bidding wars are back!

Many buyers are finding themselves competing for the same house. Unlike the bidding wars of the past, these recent bidding wars are the result of a shortage of inventory.

Sellers, meanwhile, are not seeing huge price increases or hefty profits, like some did during the boom years when prices were going through the roof. Competitive bidding in this current enviornment is being caused by tight inventories. More evidence that housing demand is starting to pick up again after a six-year slump.

According to a Wall Street Journal quarterly survey, the inventory of homes listed for sale declined sharply in all 28 markets they track. At the height of the housing crisis in 2008, there was an 11.1 months’ supply of home for sale. In March, there was a 6.3 months’ supply. Real estate agents normally consider a market to be balanced when there is a six month supply of homes for sale.

An index recently reported by the National Association of Realtors measuring the number of contracts signed to purchase previously owned homes rose in March to its highest level in nearly two years, up 12.8% from a year ago, and 4.1% from February.

Market inventory varies in different parts of the country, but the general consensus nationwide is, the number of houses for sale is edging down.

Inventories seem to be declinging for several reasons. Some sellers have taken their homes off the market to wait for prices to increase and market conditions to improve. Investors, meanwhile, have been outmaneuvering consumers for the best properties, often making cash offers that are quickly accepted by anxious sellers.

Improvements are obviously investments in your home, and most homeowners have a list of things they’d like to do to their home to make it their dream home. Things like: gutting the kitchen, reconfiguring the bathroom or repainting the entire outside of the home.

Some economists say inventory levels are artificially low because Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the nation’s largest banks have been slow to list hundreds of thousands of foreclosed homes they own. Lenders slowed down the foreclosures after record-keeping abuses came to light 18 months ago.

If those same banks and lenders step up their efforts to unload their properties, inventories could quickly rise, putting pressure on prices again.

Even with bidding wars popping up again, pushing prices higher in some areas, many homes are still selling for prices much lower than they were a few years ago. Meanwhile, rents are rising at a time when mortgage levels have fallen to or near record lows. Many renters are finding rates so low they can now afford a house that was out of their price range just a year or two ago.

Housing markets face another danger. More than 11 million homeowners owe more than their home is worth, causing the trade-up market to completely stall. When homeowners can’t sell their home, let along come up with the down payment for their next home, move up buying tends to dry up.

Mortgage lending standards remain very tough. Many “deals” fall apart because homes won’t appraise for the price buyers have agreed to pay, and sellers are not willing to come down even more than they already have.

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Mortgage Rates Remain Near Record Lows

Mortgage rates have dipped to near record lows again, keeping home buying and refinancing very affordable.

Last week, mortgage buyer Freddit Mac reported the rate on the 30-year fixed rate loan had dropped to 3.88%, down from 3.9% a week ago. The rate hit 3.87% back in February, the lowest long term mortgage rate in history.

The average on the 15-year fixed rate mortgage dipped to 3.12%, down from 3.13% the previous week. The national average hit an all-time low of 3.11% just two weeks ago. Average rates do not include extra fees, aka points, which most borrowers have to pay in order to get the lowest rates. One point equals 1 percent of the loan amount.

So far, record low mortgage rates have done very little to boost home sales. Analysts suspect that a record warm winter may have something to do with that, as many sales that would have normally taken place during the spring buying season, actually took place in January and February.

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Spring Cleaning For Your Finances

With Spring in full force most everywhere now, and tax season once again behind us, now is a good time to do some “spring cleaning for your finances” to help you eliminate some of the paper clutter, and get better organized.

Here are some tips on Spring Cleaning for Your Finances and your office record keeping…

We welcome your comments and suggestions below.