May 18, 2017
The big story both nationally & locally is low inventory. This means that there isn't much on the market and buyers are finding they often have to compete with other buyers to get the house they want. This in turn drives up prices and makes sellers very happy.
The market in Gainesville is no exception. Anything under 6 months supply is considered a seller's market, and right now in Gainesville, there are just 4 months worth of inventory!
And if you break it down by price range, you'll see that the under-$200k segment is especially scarce:
As the graph indicates, there are fewer than 3 months supply of homes under $200k in Alachua County. Take 1 popular search: 3BR homes in NW Gainesville under $150k. Right now there are only 21 of those on the market!
Look at the effect this is having on price per square foot:
3 years ago, Alachua County was below $100 per square foot and today it's closing in on $120. That's a 20% gain in just 3 years.
You'd think the potential to get multiple offers & sell for a whole lot of money would get sellers to SELL, SELL, SELL, right? Not so much. Many are understandably worried thatthey won't find anything to buy, effectively forcing them to move twice (first to a rental, then to a permanent residence).
So, sellers in a low-inventory market are concerned about not being able to find anything to buy, and so they are shy about putting their homes on the market, thus keeping inventory down. This is very good news for sellers with homes currently on the market and real estate agents who often don't even have time to take property photos before several offers come in!
As they say, what goes up must come down. It's hard to say how long we'll be in a strong seller's market but eventually, inventory will trickle up and there will be fewer buyers looking. At this point, however, we have a ways to go before there'd be any worry of excess inventory. Right now, the crazy buyer's market of 2009-2011 seems like a generation ago!
