It appears like the favors are on the sellers' side, as home prices continue to rise in several cities on the West Coast. Buyers continue to flock the market while existing home sales remain short of the increase in demand. Can first-time buyers still get their dream home in these cities?
Home prices rose 5.4 percent in January as compared to the median prices of homes for sale in the same month in 2015, states a report from the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, according to Realtor.com. The said increase in the prices of homes may be due to the fact that there is a shortage in the number of homes for sale in the real estate market.
"There are fewer [home] options for buyers. It's a seller's market, rather than a buyer's market," said senior analyst at S&P Dow Jones indices, Chris Bennett.
Cities on the West Coast, in particular, have seen the highest increase in the prices of homes in the market. In Portland, prices of residences have risen to 11.8 percent from last year.
"It's a hard market for buyers because they're putting offers on multiple offers on homes. And they're one of 25 or 30 offers, all over list price," said real estate agent Deb Counts-Tabor.
Seattle has also seen an increase of 10.7 percent in home prices over a year while San Francisco home prices rose to 10.5 percent.
This condition of the real estate market has made it even more difficult for first-time buyers to get their very first home. However, analysts are looking into construction of new homes to supply the increase in demand for homes in the market.
As previously reported here on Realty Today, construction of new homes is expected to increase this year to keep up with the demands for more houses in the market.
This will hopefully resolve the shortage of houses on sale in the market and will provide first-time buyers with more options to choose from at prices that they can afford.