Instead of slashing prices, sellers are pulling out of the market, stats suggest
Buyers should be cashing in right now, scooping up homes at bargain prices, but they aren't.
Instead, many sellers are refusing play, either pulling their homes off the market or opting not to sell in the first place.
A growing problem locally - I recently blogged about it here - the decline in decent inventory is also starting to become a major issue in other metro markets across the country.
The number of homes on the market has dropped by 20 percent across the country through the end of September, according to a new report by Realtor.com.
In Greater Boston, we've seen a nearly 7 percent drop, which somewhat masks the seriousness of the problem locally. After all, this is hardly a new phenomenon in the Boston area, but rather one that has been growing now for years.
The pickings have long been slim and overpriced inside the 495 belt.
In theory, a decline in inventory should help the market, driving up the prices of those homes still on the market.
But in reality, a depressed economy has kept many buyers on the sidelines as well, unable or unwilling to commit to the biggest purchase of their lifetimes in a time of chronic uncertainty.
Check out this anecdote about a frustrated Los Angeles buyer from a Wall Street Journal article on the decline in inventory - it should sound familiar to Boston area buyers.
On paper, all of the conditions are great for buying, but the reality doesn't seem to match that," said Ross Kutash, a 37-year-old attorney who has looked at more than three dozen homes in different suburbs of Los Angeles. "I wouldn't describe it as a buyer's market so much as no market at all."
Mr. Kutash and his wife, who recently had a baby, are looking to move out of their one-bedroom apartment in West Hollywood. "For our sanity, we're in a hurry," he said.
