Is the Dublin Ranch Housing Market Becoming More Buyer-Friendly?

Will the Dublin Ranch housing market be opening up to buyers in the near future? Recent data hints at this possibility. In July, we wrote about how a number of single-family homes in Dublin were having difficulty selling, despite the average closing price (and number of properties sold) being some of the highest figures in a year. This begged the question: If the market is healthy, why do so many homeowners seem to have trouble selling their homes?

Part of the reason may be in how homes are priced. Because of the tendency for Dublin Ranch homes to have higher listing prices than closing prices—this has been the case for each of the past 13 months—I suggested that this likely has to do with houses being placed on sale for prices higher than the market could support. After all, prices too far above market equilibrium can scare off potential buyers and cause homes to sit, unsold. This could certainly explain why the number of local expired properties has grown over the past few months: July saw more expired properties than any other month in the past year, including June (which had the second highest number of expirations).

As expected, expired properties for both months had higher median listing prices than the typical home for sale. In June, the average expired property was listed for $979,000 when others homes averaged $860,000–$119,000 disparity. And in July, the difference between these two categories went from $119,000 to $440,000. The most likely explanation is that many of these expired properties should have been priced well above the median, yet their failure to sell is a useful indicator for determining where most buyers are (or aren’t) looking. At the moment, attention appears to be on more affordable homes.

This focus on cheaper homes is reflected in July’s median “sold” price of $802,500, which was more than $90,000 below the median list price. Although it isn’t unusual for houses to close for less than asking price (as I previously mentioned, this has been happening for the last 13 months), July’s figures sit neatly on a flattening trend that is currently projecting future closing prices closer to $800,000 than $900,000. So what could this mean for buyers?

There are a few things to consider. For starters, there has been a significant uptick in new properties being added to the local market. Eighty-six new properties were put up for sale last month, which is a 30% increase over properties added in the prior months. However, demand for these homes (in this case, measured as the number of properties sold) has remained remarkably consistent, which means that many of these homes are contributing to a growing inventory. Accordingly, the total number of properties for sale has been on a steady climb for the past six months, which should help “soften” the market and make it more attractive to buyers.

When you combine these factors with the aforementioned “leveling off” of closing prices in the near future and a sustained focus on smaller, more affordable housing, it isn’t unreasonable to think that Dublin’s housing market may finally be reaching a point of balance between buyers and sellers. Ultimately, this can still benefit both parties: A price stabilization and increased inventory will encourage buyers (many of whom have been discouraged by climbing prices) to seriously consider a home purchase, and an increase in buyers will drive up demand, helping homeowners sell with greater confidence.

While only time will tell what the next few months will look like, there is every reason to believe that the market will continue to reward those who put their best foot forward when selling their house. This will be especially true if inventory continues to grow, since homeowners will have to rely on more than high demand in order to sell their home. Admittedly, this can be a daunting experience–but it doesn’t have to be, because Lifestyle Real Estate Services specializes in making the process of selling your home easy and profitable. Give us a call and see what we can do to get you moving on to the next chapter of your life, sooner.

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