Bay Area realtors say housing market slowing down slightly as interest rates rise
SAN JOSE – Realtors say the Bay Area's housing market is experiencing a mild slowdown resulting in homes remaining for sale longer, giving would-be buyers a slight edge.
"You should expect to see houses on the market for about 12, 15 days. A lot of my buyers are asking me, 'Is there something wrong with the house?' I told them, 'Look there's absolutely nothing wrong with the house. It's just that the market is a little bit slower,'" said Sonia Vu with NextHome Lifestyles.
Home prices have rocketed up in recent months and years and any slowing is viewed with a mix of concern and potential excitement.
Buyers have typically needed to be prepared to bid quickly and pay more than the asking price.
"You have to be quick," said homebuyer Gina Tran.
Tran made offers on six homes but was outbid each time. Seven was her lucky number, but it also sent her scrambling to sell her current home.
"I saw the house that I like but I had to make the offer first, before I sold my house," she said.
Fortunately, she avoided the nightmare scenario where she was committed to buying a new home but was stuck unable to sell her existing one.
"I got lucky, you know?" Tran said.
So, what's the root cause? Realtors say as interest rates go up, the price of homes buyers can afford goes down.
"I had clients who used to be able to qualify for $1.7M, $1.8M. But because of the interest rate increase, they now can only buy at $1.4M." Vu told KPIX 5.
Some realtors say the market has reached an equilibrium of sorts. It's not strictly a sellers' or a buyers' market, but somewhere in the middle.