Home sellers this season are taking a more grounded approach to pricing than they did in the fall, as buyers grow more selective and less willing to overpay.
In a Redfin survey last month, 57 percent of home sellers said their strategy was to price their property in a middle range, an increase of 7 points from our October survey. Thirty-two percent said they would price high, down from 34 percent.
“We’ve seen a shift in the right direction toward pricing in the middle range to better encourage multiple offers,” said Will Fassinger, a Redfin agent in Atlanta. “There’s always the fear of becoming a stale listing that scares buyers off or pricing so low that you don’t attract the right buyers. We advise sellers that we don’t have to negotiate a ton to get the preferred price.”
General economic conditions continued to trouble sellers, with a third citing it as a top concern. Almost as many were worried about finding another house to buy, echoing the results of our October 2015 survey. A chronically low inventory of properties for sale has created a housing logjam.
“Even with surging home prices, listings were still down three percent in January from a year ago,” said Redfin chief economist Nela Richardson. “Sellers are worried that today’s buyers won’t pay enough for their current home to finance their next-level house.”
Sixty-seven percent of sellers think prices will increase a little in 2016. Seven percent think home prices will increase a lot, only a slight change from our October survey.
A greater share of survey respondents, 48 percent, said now is an OK time to sell in their neighborhood. Ten percent said now is a bad time to sell, down from 13 percent in our prior survey.
This survey was conducted January 17-27, 2016 with responses from 605 home sellers in 25 states.
