West Coast is best for selling your home
Markets vary, but several factors have turned the West into a seller’s market
The U.S. housing market has been branded a seller’s paradise, with limited home inventories pushing up prices.
Actually, though, individual markets across the country vary widely. Strong economic and job growth, for example, drive buyer demand and home prices higher while a sluggish labor market tempers gains.
Similarly, tight housing supplies spur faster price increases and plentiful inventories keep a lid on values.
Western metro areas have both strong employment growth driven by the technology industry as well as onerous regulations that limit housing construction. The result: Sellers are in the driver’s seat, and homes are selling quickly and above asking price.
Buyers have more leverage in some northern and Mid-Atlantic metro areas that have higher unemployment rates or bigger housing stocks.
Here are Owners.com’s top 10 sellers’ markets and top 10 buyers’ markets in the 12 months through Oct. 31. It’s based mostly on the average dif-
ference between homes’ sale and listing prices, the average number of days listings linger on the market and the average number of houses in inventory.
Keep in mind that nationally, homes sold for an average $6,282 below the listing prices, and the average house was on the market 96 days.