Homes Are Still Selling – Even in a Slower Market

Headlines say home sales are slowing, and that’s accurate. September existing-home sales rose slightly, but they’re still below last year. What the headlines leave out is why homes keep selling anyway.

Rates and the economy shape the pace of the market. They don’t change the reasons people move. Jobs change, families grow, relationships end, people retire or downsize, and some move to be closer to family. Every one of those creates a buyer or a seller, whatever the market is doing.

The math

The National Association of Realtors expects close to 4 million existing homes to sell this year at the current pace. Spread out, that’s roughly:

• 11,000 homes a day
• 450 an hour
• 8 a minute

A slower market is still a moving one. Hannah Jones, a senior economic research analyst at Realtor.com, makes the same point:

“Even in today's high-price, high-rate market, homebuying activity around major life events, such as having kids, a job change, or a divorce, keeps the market in motion.”

What this means for a seller

Buyers have more choices than they did a few months ago, so they compare longer and look harder at price and condition. A listing gets less room for error. The strategy has to be right before it goes live.

You don’t need every buyer to want your home. You need the right one, and a plan to put the home in front of them.

Bottom line

A headline about slowing sales doesn’t mean buyers have stopped. They’re still out there, and homes are still closing.

If you’re considering a move, we can walk through what it would take for yours to be one of them.