The pace of home price growth has slowed down as compared to the last quarter of 2013. Now, experts at Redfin - the Seattle-based property firm - predict that the trend of falling home prices will continue for the next few months.
Analysts at Redfin expect home prices to keep softening as more all-cash investors shun away from the market. Also, the current mindset of buyers and sellers reflect a fall in asking prices.
"Buyers want to buy, but they're patient, and more careful not to overpay. At the same time, sellers are adjusting to having less power, which seems to have put a damper on some listing their homes," the report explains.
Redfin explains the mindset in numbers. The property firm found that new home listings fell 3.2 percent between July and August in the last five years. However, the number of customers looking for homes has increased 37.6 percent on a year-over-year basis alone.
This reflects a strong demand among home buyers. In fact, the latest RealtyTrac data shows that home prices in August dropped in 18 of the 20 large metros analyzed by the property firm.
"Higher-end properties are taking up a bigger share of a smaller home sales pie, boosting the median home price nationwide higher even as home price appreciation slows to single digits in many of last year's red-hot local housing markets," Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac, said in a statement.
Does that mean this is the right time to sell? Some agents say yes!
"My best advice to homeowners is to list when they are ready to sell. If a homeowner is ready to sell now, there are advantages to listing a home in the fall. There are usually fewer homes to choose from, and people looking during this time are usually serious buyers, not just casual browsers," said Sondra Savino, a Redfin agent in Chicago.
The buyer sentiment reflected in the U.S. Commerce Department's latest home sales report. The department said that new home sales spiked 18 percent in August to a seasonally adjusted 504,000 units, marking the largest month-on-month jump since 1992.
Experts noted that this was a good sign for the housing recovery, but added that growth would remain choppy unless the employment and job scenario picks up. They also asserted that the trend of improving sales should continue in the remaining months of 2014.
"The numbers tell me that we should see a slow trajectory of improved or increasing sales," Brian Johnston, chief operating officer of Mattamy Homes Ltd., told The Wall Street Journal.
Others believe that the housing market has yet to go miles and that it is mapping a steady journey towards recovery.
"It's still a challenging environment for those buyers. You can make a good case for a slow, gradual improvement," Guy Berger, an economist at RBS in Stamford, Conn., told Reuters.
