There has been a radical change in the American residential real estate market in the past year. In early 2022, homes were selling above the asking price. Mortgage rates were low. In some markets, few homes were sold because demand made inventory almost nonexistent. Recently, higher mortgage rates have made it harder for sellers to get premium prices. Because of this, fewer homes are on the market. And buyers are being crippled by mortgage rates at or above 6%. (These American cities are spending billions to build more homes.)
Despite the challenge sellers have, they are fewer in May because it is the month during which sellers get the highest premium. According to ATTOM’s “The Optimal Time of the Year to Sell a Home Proves to Be Spring and Summer,” the “median automated value” of a home during the period from 2011 to 2002 of an inventory of 51 million homes was below the sales price in every month of the year.
According to the report:
To calculate the premium or discount paid on a given day, ATTOM compared the median sales price for homes with a purchase closing on that day with the median automated valuation model (AVM) for those same homes at the time of sale.
May’s premium was 12.1%. The median sales price in the month was $220,000 against an AVM of $195,000. June was second with a premium of 10.7%. The AVM was $206,000, compared to a sale price of $228,000
The worst month was November. The AVM was $207,000 against a sales price of $220,000, just a 6.3% premium.
Here is the AVM versus sales price for every month:
| Month | Median Sales Price | Median AVM | Seller Premium |
|---|---|---|---|
| May | $220,000 | $195,000 | 12.8% |
| June | $228,000 | $206,000 | 10.7% |
| April | $215,000 | $195,000 | 10.3% |
| March | $210,000 | $191,357 | 9.7% |
| July | $227,500 | $207,537 | 9.6% |
| February | $200,000 | $184,000 | 8.7% |
| August | $225,000 | $208,000 | 8.2% |
| September | $223,504 | $207,000 | 8.0% |
| January | $200,000 | $186,000 | 7.5% |
| October | $220,000 | $206,000 | 6.8% |
| December | $220,000 | $206,000 | 6.8% |
| November | $220,000 | $207,000 | 6.3% |
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