Cooling off? Bay Area home buyers see more inventory, slight drop in prices
SAN JOSE – In the Bay Area's hot housing market, there are new signs of breathing space for prospective buyers.
Prices remain high, but leveled off in July, while the inventory of homes available for sale went up.
"That is very good news for the buyers," said realtor Elena Clark.
"It means instead of seeing 15 offers on everything, they're seeing maybe 1 to 5 offers on most things. So, it makes it much easier for them," Clark went on to say.
The rising inventory means homes for sale are lingering on the market, days or even weeks longer than they did just a few months ago.
Along with it, prices are coming down after two years of record growth. According to Zillow, San Jose saw the largest drop in home values in the country in July, down 4.5%. San Francisco was second with a 2.8% decrease, followed by Phoenix and Austin.
Declines in the stock market, along with rising interest rates, have caused the market to cool off.
"It's more of a regulating. Sort of taking the throttle off, just a bit," said Kelly Snider, professor of urban and regional planning at San Jose State University.
Snider told KPIX 5 that sellers are still making huge profits on the sale of homes, but the leaps and bounds are leveling off.
"The cost of increase is flattening out. So we'll hit a plateau a little bit, where at least a buyer might be able to take a breath and not worry if they miss this one, the next one will be $50,000 more. So it's not going up every time they bid," Snider said.
Home shoppers may not be getting any bargains, especially when compared to the rest of the country, but they are getting more time and more options as we move from a hyper market to one considered normal.
"For anyone who's on the edge or trying to save up a little more, it's a much nicer market for them," Clark said.
