Strong Sellers Market Continues

Heading into the heart of the summer, the housing market is like the temperatures, heating up with no signs of relief. According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the supply of homes for sale continues to drop year over year, currently at a 4.1 month supply, leaving us solidly in the wake of a Sellers market.

As seen below, a 6-month supply of homes is necessary for a balanced market and has not been seen since August of 2012. Month supply is the measure of how many months it would take for the current homes on the market to sell according to the current pace.

And the numbers rise...

First time homebuyers are facing major competition, but Sellers are gaining major equity. Four times as many renters are considering buying homes in the next year than homeowners looking to sell, according to CoreLogic's 2018 Consumer Housing Sentiment Study. That means even less homes and even more demand. Higher competition for buyers means top dollar for sellers. Average homeowners are gaining over $16,000 in equity over the last year, contributing to a total gain of over a trillion dollars nationwide.

Average equity gains by state are broken down below.