Buyers are in for competition this spring, but have better chances in Florida and New York, where there are areas without frenetic multiple-offer scenarios, and homes are lasting longer on the market.
According to the new Zillow Buyer-Seller Index, which gauges how “hot” a housing market is, buyers are in for the easiest house-hunt in the New York metropolitan region. Why? Homebuyers generally have greater latitude with a longer window, and in New York, the average home is on the market for 132 days.
Although expensive (the median is $438,300), the buyers who can call New York home—in North Castle, in Westchester County, specifically—have more negotiating power relative to others.
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Florida also has encouraging odds. The second-most buyer-friendly market is the Miami region, where the average home is on the market for 99 days. Bal Harbour, located in Miami-Dade County, is the best bet for buyers overall, but the competition is dialing down in Orlando and Tampa, as well, where homes are lasting on the market for 84 and 75 days, respectively. (The best cities in each are Lady Lake and Wimauma.)
Though these are the beginnings of a changeover from a favorable market for sellers to one for buyers, the majority of sellers still have the upper hand.
“Blanket seller’s markets are history,” says Aaron Terrazas, senior economist at Zillow. “While inventory remains tight, it is starting to climb. The housing market has cooled and in a growing number of markets, buyers are gaining more and more leverage—especially those well-heeled buyers willing to pay top dollar in pricey communities. However, the crunch is still on in more affordable areas, so the bulk of buyers continue to see some competition, though somewhat less than a few months ago.”
The Zillow Buyer-Seller Index accounts for days on market, list-to-sale price ratio and price reductions.
For more information, please visit www.zillow.com. Â
Suzanne De Vita is RISMedia’s online news editor. Email her your real estate news ideas at sdevita@rismedia.com.
