Growing seller realism, but not here in Massachusetts
Are sellers finally crying uncle?
Well, maybe everywhere except here in Massachusetts.
Hammered by the worst downturn in at least two decades, would-be sellers are getting more realistic about what their homes will fetch on today’s market, according to a nationwide survey of real estate agents by HomeGain.
One key finding is that 36 percent of home sellers believe their homes should be listed 10 to 20 percent more than what their real estate agents recommend.
Doesn’t sound like progress until you match up the results of this latest survey, which covers the second quarter, with the 45 percent who believed their homes were being undervalued by 10 to 20 percent back in the first quarter.
In another sign, the number of homebuyers who think the market is still overpriced has fallen to 59 percent, down from 64 percent in the second quarter.
Still, the numbers for Massachusetts indicate the battle over pricing may still have a ways to go.
By contrast with the national numbers, roughly 78 percent of Bay State homeowners still believe their properties are undervalued, according to HomeGain’s survey of Realtors.
I guess it’s more of the market may be down, but not my home kind of sentiment.
And would-be buyers appear equally frustrated, with 70 percent arguing the properties they are looking at are still overpriced.
That may be poised to shift, though, with price declines now in even some of the Boston area’s most expensive neighborhoods, as I wrote yesterday.
We’ll see.
