When the Expected Market Time drops below 40-days, the Seller’s Market shifts from “hot” to “insane,” and today it is at 20 days.
A three-bedroom, two-bathroom, 1,500 square foot home on a 10,000 square foot lot, built in 1972, was placed on the market on the first Wednesday of February at $999,000. There was a line going down the street to view the home during a three-hour window on Saturday and a three-hour window on Sunday. By Sunday evening there were more than 20 offers submitted to the listing agent. The seller countered to all offers and asked them to come back with their highest and best price. The home closed on during the first week of March at $1,200,000, an astonishing 20% above its list price.
Not every home sells 20% above its list price. In Orange County, the sales to list price ratio for detached homes so far in March is 103.5%. That means that the average closed sales price was only 3.5% over the asking price. An unbelievable 73.5% of all closed detached homes sold above their list price during the first few weeks of March. The median days on market is 6 days, less than a week. It would probably be even faster, but there are just too many offers to sift through.
The housing market is out of control as home values continue to soar. At this point, it is like a runaway freight train barreling down the tracks at an unimaginable speed. There really is no end in sight due to the catastrophically low inventory. With such a scarcity of homes available, there are far too many buyers for every home that hits the market. This imbalance can be seen in the sheer number of buyers bumping into each other, eager to view the latest new listing that hits the market.