RMP vol.5

STATS & Predictions!

Author

Robyn Miller
September 23, 2024

August 2024 Spokane STATS

Hello, Hello RMP friends!
It’s officially the first day of FALLLLL & now I get to quip one of my favorite sayings;
Happy Fall y’all 😂 It’s silly, but fun and to be honest I’ve got to keep my spirits up as I am a summer girl through and through. I would take a 100-degree day over pretty much any other choice if I had one, but alas I know the seasons here in Spokane change every few months and really, that’s what draws a lot of people to our beautiful city.
That being said, my children (miniature meteorologists) have informed me that this week we’ll still see temps in the 80’s so looks like summer is holding on tight, just like me! HA

Back to business ~ as you can see from the August stats above, the summer slowdown did not in fact drop prices at all. While inventory has crept up by another .1 months, and the closed sales are still down from last year, the prices are remaining strong. The only thing I can continue to chalk this up to is still lack of inventory, which seems contradictory as it does keep raising every month.
The FED just came out and reduced the rates by .5 last week, but the market (actual loan rates when buying or refinancing) already had that “baked into pricing”, a saying that seems to be prevalent from my mortgage friends all year. Essentially this means that the powers that be - aka - the market, was expecting the cut and therefore will not (yet) reduce actual mortgage rates. My prediction* is that even though we’ve technically been in a recession for about two years now, the government will actually come out and say it in the beginning of next year. {If you click on the link included, it’ll take you to an article by NerdWallet that dances around the question, Are we in a recession? But goes on to state; “The conventional benchmark has been that two consecutive quarters of a generally slowing economy defines a recession. That definition was achieved in the first six months of 2022 as part of a shallow economic decline. In the first quarter, the economy shrank 1.6%, then improved, though still fell 0.6% in the second quarter due to lower inventory spending, housing investments and federal and state government spending.”}
When they do finally come out and say it, what will happen? Rates will likely start falling to spur some market activity and hopefully we’ll be able to get ourselves out of it quickly!
What does this mean for you, my lovely clients, both buyers and sellers?
Welp, if you are a soon-to-be BUYER, I advise you to continue to save up your cash so when rates do start to lower you can be ready to jump into the buying process OR you can jump in now when you’ll see a little higher rate, but MUCH less competition and then be able to refinance once rates do start their downward trajectory. If you were buying and selling during the artificially low-rate season of 2020-early 2022, you know how crazy the market got. Bidding wars, lots of buyers, not enough sellers and total chaos. Do I think it’s going to get that cray again? No, thankfully! But I do see multiple offers happening this coming spring especially if rates are cut.
SELLERS! What this means to you? If you are getting your home ready to list in the next 6-12 months, and especially in the next few months- put in the work to really make your property shine. Buyers are pickier than I’ve seen in 9 years, as they should be paying those prices and rates, but that means you MUST put your best foot forward when it comes to selling. Declutter, fix deferred maintenance items & clean like your life depends on it!
There will always be more things I can advise you on, and will, but give yourself plenty of time and grace and call me early in the process so you don’t end up feeling overwhelmed with a rushed push at the end.

That’s all I’ve got for now ~ next time we’ll jump into a few other topics that I have been passionately preaching about all year but want to get into the nitty gritty of it!

Until next time! All my love,

~Robyn

Call/Text/Email anytime:
509-294-2709 | [email protected]

*My prediction: this is my own expressed opinion based on what I’ve seen and been hearing in and out of the RE industry.