More Americans Think It's a Good Time to Sell a Home

With home prices zooming up with no end in sight, a record number of Americans think it's a good time to sell a home. About 61% of folks said there was no time like the present to put a home on the market, according to Fannie Mae's National Housing Survey for May. That's the highest percentage it's been since Fannie began the survey in June 2010. (Fifty-seven percent of participants said it was a good time to sell in April.) The monthly survey polls 1,000 Americans with more than 100 questions on their attitudes toward owning and renting a home, price changes in the housing market, and the health of the economy. However, those high prices don't mean that homeowners are going to rush to plant "For Sale" signs in their front yards. "They [still] have to find a new place to move," says Sarah Shahdad, a market insights researcher at Fannie Mae. "If they don't see an affordable buying opportunity, they might be hesitant to list their homes for sale—even if they think it's a good time to sell." The bank account–busting price tags of properties are also leading more people, about 33%, to think it's not a good time to be a home hunter. That's compared with 27% who thought it wasn't an ideal time to buy in April. "People who think it’s a bad time to buy are concerned about high home prices," Shahdad says. "The supply of homes is tight, which is pushing up home prices." And nearly half of Americans, 48%, believe those prices are going to get even higher compared with just 8% who think they'll go down, according to the survey. That makes sense as prices are usually the highest during the warm-weather months, when competition is the fiercest. That's because many folks want to move in the summer, before the kids go back to school. "As long as the supply remains limited, that's going to push home prices up higher," Shahdad says. Original Source: http://www.realtor.com/news/real-estate-news/good-time-sell-a-home/ Original Author: Clare Trapasso Original Date: Jun 7, 2017