You may recall that for the past few months I’ve been trying to sort out a conundrum with our county’s Market Data: Our New Listings keep increasing vs. last year (giving us needed new inventory), but our Pendings keep decreasing (so… do we need more housing or not?). Complicating matters, our average Home Sale Price has continued to rise, and Days on the Market have stayed low against historical averages – both suggest that we are in a Seller’s Market (but if that were true, Pendings should absolutely​​​​​​​ track with Inventory).

You can see the data here.

Looking at the Market Pricing charts (for Single Family Homes at the top of Page 2, for Condos at the top of Page 3), you can immediately spot the new evidence. The 2024 and 2023 lines in both charts show us what has historically happened this time of year: Home Sale Prices go down. Why would this be? Because most of the market-ready homes sold during “peak selling season”, and so what remained was predominantly the less desirable homes. Additionally, the new listings tended to be “unplanned” (read: deaths, divorces, etc…) so the homes were generally not as well-prepared for market. These realities were surmountable because Buyers in the Fall tended to be looking for bargains and accepted the compromises to the homes – but those sales occurred at lower prices than the Spring and Summer months.

Now we can see that the Average Sale Price for both SF Homes and Condos in 2025 have instead gone up in comparison to their August numbers. Yes, homes are still selling – but virtually only the homes in market-ready condition! Buyers, many of whom have been trained by the multiple-offer tempest to search for over a year, have become so accustomed to the long search that they are willing to wait even longer to find a home with just the right qualites rather than settle. Meanwhile, Sellers (who’ve been told for years that they only need 4 walls and a roof to get an offer) are starting to list their homes at a higher and higher frequency without properly preparing these homes for the current realities.

What Does this Mean?

If you plan to sell your home soon, you should absolutely be reaching out to your agent sooner to get their input on necessary changes to the home to make it market-ready. Even a year ago, I might have advised a client that investing in new interior paint wouldn’t provide an adequate return. Now, it’s table stakes. Put your handyman on speed dial if you want to sell your home in this market.

If you are a Buyer in this market, understand that this is still NOT a Buyer’s Market. Homes that meet the criteria of market-ready are selling incredibly fast – and for top dollar. You cannot name your price on those homes. If you can be strategic, however, there is a better and larger selection of “compromised” homes on the market than the last few years. Your goal should be to find the compromises that you can either live with or easily fix, and snag that home for a bargain.

Condos vs. Single Family Homes

In other news, you may recall that I’ve been watching the divergence in Median Condo prices from their historic ~55% of the value of Single Family Homes. Condo owners have been loosing ground against their SF Home-owning peers, and that does not look to be rectifying yet. I can say, however, that I am not seeing evidence that the gap is wideing (it looks like the 2025 Median Condo Sale will be right around 50% of the Median SF Home Sale)… but that’s of small consolation, as a 5% drop can turn into significant buying power loss over the coming years. This might be a good time to make the switch if you have the means.

As always, I look forward to connecting!