Normal Housing Market Action, or a Bubble?

You may have read an article or two in the news recently that housing sales and prices have jumped nationwide, in some places by more than 10%. This is good news! And not just for Realtors. What's happening is something straight out of Economics 101: supply is low but demand is high, so prices are rising. For the Cincinnati area, we're seeing a lot of buyer activity but less than 4.5 months of inventory -- meaning that if no more homes came on the market, we would (in theory) sell out of homes by August. That's not going to happen, obviously, but it is a good indicator of what you can expect if you're buying or selling a home this year. 

A word of caution to sellers, though: while this is a sellers' market, your property will most likely be purchased by someone who needs a mortgage, so the price has to be at least within range of the appraisal value. Some sellers have been disappointed by appraisals that don't appear to be keeping up with the increased prices they keep hearing about...and that's because you're hearing the national figures, not the local ones. Prices in Cincinnati are rising at a much more conservative rate, but homes are selling very quickly. So it's up to you: list your home now and sell it quickly, or wait and see if prices continue to rise.

For more on why this is not a housing bubble, check out this article from Realtor.com.