What a fantastic first quarter in the San Antonio real estate market… and I predict the rest of 2012 is going even better. If you stop and listen closely, you can hear the sound of the pendulum swinging. That pendulum is the real estate market swinging from a buyers’ to a sellers’ market.
Last month I witnessed, on more than one occasion, good home purchase offers fall to the wayside because the sellers received other, more attractive offers in the same day. It’s been a long time since we’ve had this kind of action in the real estate market. Desirable homes are not staying on the market very long (some as little as two or three days) and the sellers are often getting multiple offers from separate prospective buyers. Gone may be days of buyers aggressively negotiating for sellers’ rock bottom prices. On the flip side, anyone wondering when would be the right time to sell their home; now just might be the right time.
Two other indicators, the Housing Affordability Index and the Pending Homes Sales Index, also support this prediction. These are just two of many measures tracked by the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) to monitor the industry’s economic pulse and they both show the real estate sales market is on an uptrend. The Housing Affordability Index measures the ratio between median home price, median family income, and average mortgage interest rate. According to NAR, this index in January reached 206.1 – its highest level since recordkeeping began in1970. An index of 100 is the point where a median-income family has exactly enough income to qualify for the purchase of a median-priced home. So a ratio of 206.1 indicates that today’s typical family earns over double the income needed to purchase a median-priced home. That’s a lot of buying power and Pending Home Sales Index from January may be showing that playing out. The Pending Home Sales Index is a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings. According to NAR, January’s index rose 2 percent, continuing an upward trend and reaching its highest mark since April 2010. More people are buying homes and if access to credit improves, we should see even more increases.
Like I said, 2012 is going to be an exciting year leading, hopefully, to an even better 2013. So now is the time to buy, sell, and invest in real estate in San Antonio.
image courtesy of our very own Rockceptionist
