Interesting data. I’ve noticed that my automatic emails from ZipRealty have almost come to a halt. I think the last new listing I got was sometime last week.
How do you interpret this lack of supply? Do you think that many of the sellers over the last year or so were opportunistic sellers as opposed to distressed sellers? Do you think that the 100% financing option ARM buyers were able to refinance into loans they could afford and thus don’t have to sell? Supposedly, a lot of option ARMS were due to reset over the past year or so, but the supply (at least here in San Diego) doesn’t seem to reflect that.
This is anecdotal, but I watched the asking price on one short sale (3-bedroom condo; not a conversion) in UTC decrease from $560,000 to $465,000 in the space of about one month last fall. When I called my real estate agent to ask about it, she said there were two or three parties submitting bids. I didn’t pursue the property any further, but lo-and-behold if the seller didn’t raise the asking price back up to $500,000 just a few days ago. I haven’t talked to my real estate agent about this place lately, but I’m assuming the current asking price is right around where the current highest offer is.
Obviously there is still demand out there at the right price. The question is, will the supply that comes on the market this spring overwhelm that demand? Right now it doesn’t look like it.
