Homes Ready To Move Into

Its funny what a little bit of news can do to buyer sentiment.

In 2018, around this same time, we were having to raise our prices to keep up with the explosive real estate market. Today, the landscape is completely different.

Over the last several months, things have changed. We’re constantly being surrounded by talks of recessions and Federal Reserve interventions.

So what is the deal? How is this all affecting the Utah housing market?

Shift in Homebuyer Sentiment

The biggest change

The first and perhaps biggest relief to many homebuyers, is that housing prices have settled in 2019. At Leisure Villas, we’ve been able to keep our prices from climbing this year, despite ever-increasing labor and material costs.

This is definitely good news to anybody looking to buy a house. The problem is that prices aren’t likely to go down, even if all this talk of recession turns out to be true. The reason is, that demand is still so high, that all we’re likely to see are stagnant prices for the next year or so.

Buyers are more risk-averse

The second interesting change that has happened, is that people have become increasingly wary of a recession. This has led to fewer people buying houses months in advance. Instead, they are opting for homes that are already completed and move-in ready.

There may be multiple explanations for this behavior, but to us, it signals that they worry about being able to sell their home in the future. If they are worried about selling a home in the future, it makes them more likely to wait until their house is sold before they move.

This only makes sense, but there are a few challenges or compromises that must be made when buyers become so risk averse. One of which, is that they don’t get as many choices about the custom features that they can place in their new home.

Also, they are limited by the homes that a builder has completed and waiting in their inventory. This may mean compromises in floorplan choices.

Interestingly enough, most homes are still selling very well. Across the nation, and here in Utah, homebuilder sentiment is actually up. More building permits are being submitted than in years past, and demand for those homes is expected to rise.

This means that your home still has a good chance of selling after you list it. However, as mentioned before, prices have stopped ballooning like they were in the last couple of years. So you won’t likely sell your home for a lot of extra, above and beyond what you could’ve gotten last year.

How can we help?

Our shift during the last several months has gone from pre-sells to existing sells. This means, that as fears of a recession continue to mount, we’ll be building more homes and stocking them for people who are ready to move in quickly.

Granted, we still have many people buying in advance, but on average, we have between two and four homes that are move-in ready every month. In many of our 55+ communities.

If you have just sold your home, and need a place quick, check us out. In most cases, we can find you a home that is perfectly suited to your needs and tastes, and have you in, before you can say [to your children], “Do you have an extra room?”