Are we in a “Buyer’s Market” or “Seller’s Market?” This is normally determined by how many “months of inventory” there are. What does this mean? In a nutshell, this industry term means how long it would take for the homes currently available to sell at the market’s present pace.
To determine the months supply of inventory for a given area, you divide the number of active listings on the market by the number of homes sold per month on average during the previous 12 months. For example, there are 1,565 active single family home listings in Bakersfield as of March 6, 2017. In the last 12 months, 8,014 single family homes sold in Bakersfield or 667.83 per month. That means there’s roughly a 2.34 months supply of inventory of single family homes in Bakersfield at this time.
0-4 months is a “Seller’s Market”
5-7 months is a “Balanced Market”
8-12 or more is a “Buyer’s Market”
So the answer is…we are still in a Seller’s Market.
According to the California Association of Realtors, “Following modest gains in home sales in 2016, California’s housing market will post a nominal increase in 2017, as supply shortages and affordability constraints hamper market activity. The C.A.R. forecast sees a slight increase in existing home sales of 0.8 percent next year to reach 419,600 units.”