Is growing inventory a bright spot or was housing recovery a giant blind spot?

 

To see how far winning bids are above or below original asking prices, run your cursor over individual sales in this scatterplot.  Each data point shows ($K over or under, as well as %).  Too zoom-in, drag a box across the area you want to expand.

More than 24 hours after it’s publication, only six shares and one comment so far on Boston.com’s latest real estate blog post.  Is that because this “Bright spot for Buyers” is a boring spot or is something more serious going on?

Scan industry and mainstream media headlines this Spring, and many are talking about housing’s slow start.  This provocative blog post goes further, boldly concluding:

The Housing Recovery that Never Was Is Over

http://bit.ly/REconOver  Please share this URL with your social networks

So what’s the real story here: is growing inventory a single bright spot or was the housing recovery a giant blind spot?

More specifically, if you live in Boston, how do you reconcile headlines like this with a scatter plot above showing single family homes selling well below asking prices?

Bidding Wars Are Back: Buyers Face Stiff Competition

“Baltimore and Boston had the largest year-over-year increases in bidding wars, a rise to 50.9 percent and 75.9 percent, respectively.”

http://bit.ly/RedSpin  Please share this URL with your social networks

Contrast that industry spin with the large number of single family homes selling at discounts across Massachusetts, and it’s enough to make you cross-eyed.

To their credit, one Redfin agent is California ends the article above by saying:

“The past two years we’d compete against people camping out in their cars or entering lotteries to win new homes. This year, a bidding war is more likely to drive the price of a home higher than it’s worth competing for, and I think it will be easier for us to walk away from a situation like that.”

Homebuyers in Boston, what are local Redfin agents saying, or any other agents for that matter?  Are they / their advice part of the solution or part of the problem?

DIY homebuyers, what would help you see the housing market more clearly?

Call to Action:

Would be homebuyers, particularly first time homebuyers, please contact us if you’d like to preview our seminar, “Defensive Homebuying:  What they don’t teach in Homebuying 101″?

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