Temperatures have barely started to warm up in Acadiana but our real estate market has been on fire. Home sales in March were higher than sales last July in Acadiana, which was our best month for 2012. In Lafayette parish, March sales were almost as high as July 2012. If this is any indication of what our summer and the rest of the year will be like, it appears that we will be setting real estate records in Lafayette and Acadiana.

Pending home sales keep climbing. I have never seen them this high and pending sales are higher now than they were last June before we set a record month for July.

The demand for homes in Acadiana have put the builders back to work. In Acadiana, 95 of the 396 homes sold were new construction. In Lafayette parish, 84 of the 262 sales were of new homes.

Meanwhile, inventory is not catching up to the high demand and it remains low.

There are still plenty of buyers looking out there if you have been thinking about selling. True, if you wait, your home will be worth a bit more however, if interest rates rise, there will also be less buyers on the market.

If you want to discuss the sale of your home, call or email me today. I’m here to help!

Home buyers in our Lafayette parish market have been feeling the pressure: Inventory is thin, rates are still low, and many can’t find what they are looking for. The buyers who are out looking right now are already feeling the seller’s market we seem to be heading into.

Technically, we are not in a seller’s market, yet. We will be in seller’s market once the months of inventory fall below 5 months and stay there a while. A buyer’s market, on the other hand, is when there are more than 7  months of inventory. For the past year or so, we have mostly been in a balanced market, which is 5 to 7 months of inventory.

Since March 2012, we dipped into the seller’s market on a few occasions: April, May, July, and October. As the spring rolls around this year, my guess is that inventory will not keep up with buyer’s demand and months of inventory will continue to fall. Last month, we barely had 5 months of inventory. It’s only February!

What does this mean?

For buyers: it is more important than ever to be pre-approved and be ready to write an offer when the right house comes along. The “good buys” and the move-in ready homes that are priced “right” do not stay on the market very long, sometimes only a few hours. It also means that as inventory shrinks, home prices will continue to rise and interest rates will likely rise as well, which in turn will diminish your buying power. Now is still the most awesome time to buy! And if you already own a home, I would say, buy another one! Heck, buy 10 if you can.

For sellers: The market is heading in your direction and home prices will continue to rise. If you are considering selling, our low inventory means that you have less competition from other sellers right now. If your home is priced right, it will sell faster (see column Avg DOM for “Days on Market”) and you may even have competing buyers/multiple offers. Waiting for prices to rise may be a good idea, however, if inventory increases and interest rates rise as well, the buyer pool will be smaller with some buyers electing to wait until the market turns in their favor again. And it will… at some point. Just like we can’t stay in a buyer’s market forever, seller’s market do not last forever either.

As always, your questions or comments are welcome. Feel free to email me a line or two or leave your trace on this page.