West Coast's Wilting Markets

Over the past two months, housing markets, particularly on the West Coast where affording a home is beyond reach for many, have been trending in buyers' favor. 

According to Rick Palacios Jr., director of research at John Burns Real Estate Consulting, “If we’re right, nationally, we’ve already entered the early stages of a buyer’s market,” adding that if supply levels hit the five-month mark, experts will be monitoring for flat or possibly fewer sales, especially in already hot markets. As the sales pace has slowed, the months of supply indicator has been growing annually over the past few months, per data from the National Association of Realtors. Supply, in the form of active listings, has grown significantly in hot West Coast markets like San Jose, with 113 percent annual gains, Denver, with 81 percent growth, and Seattle, with a 47 percent increase, Curbed reports, though sales overall are dropping.

In Southern California, year-over-year home price appreciation began to decline in the spring and has continued to do so into the fall. Northern California was a little later to respond, but San Jose and San Francisco registered their first year-over-year declines in September. “This is a sign of weakening demand relative to supply, particularly when you see multiple months of decelerating [home price appreciation],” said Daren Blomquist of ATTOM Data Solutions, a real estate data provider. Blomquist noted that data in some of the smaller markets can be volatile from month to month.

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