Real estate agents across the Mid-Atlantic have turned less optimistic about the summer housing market than they were a month ago.
That’s according to a new survey of subscribers by Bright MLS, who were “somewhat less upbeat about how busy the housing market would be three months from now” in the latest monthly survey, released May 16.
The problem lies not with buyers – they have been active throughout the springtime – but with current homeowners, who seems perfectly happy holding on to abodes that came were financed at rock-bottom interest rates over the past few years.
In Bright MLS’s May survey of professionals, 47.2 percent of respondents indicated their expectation that buyer activity would be “high to very high” in the next three months, down a few points from April. But less than 7 percent guesstimated that seller activity would be high to very high and more than 54 percent suggested it would be low to very low. That’s up from 51 percent a month before.
If this all plays out as prognosticated, the summer market might mirror current springtime conditions: the lack inventory will bedevil prospective purchasers but will keep the market’s sales prices relatively stable.
“The survey results highlight how low inventory is making the market feel very competitive to buyers,” Bright MLS chief economist Lisa Sturtevant said. “Making offers on multiple homes and offering above list price are both common as prospective homebuyers vie for a limited number of homes on the market.”
Until April, the median year-over-year sales price for homes across the Mid-Atlantic had risen for 86 consecutive months. The median sales price across the Bright MLS region in April ($380,974) was down slightly from April 2022, with the major declines concentrated in the Washington region.
Bright MLS manages multiple-listing services covering about 70 localities across the District of Columbia, Delaware, Maryland and portions of Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
