Mostly long time owners with lots of equity who are moving on and willing to do so at these price levels.
Interestingly, these are the kind of people that drive the prices down. I always thought foreclosures will lead the way. I guess these are the only people who can afford to cut the price somewhat.
It makes sense from a foreclosure standpoint too. Take two cases:
1) You buy a house w/0 down for 600k$ and now try to sell. If you can’t sell for something close to that price, it doesn’t matter to you how far the price drops. In other word, if the lender forecloses, it doesn’t matter to you whether the house ultimately sells for 300k$ or 500k$. With California foreclosure laws, in either case, the only thing that you’ve lost is your credit rating. Why bother to chase the market down? There is always a chance that the price could suddenly rise back up to 600k$, so why not hold out?
2) You buy a house for 400k$ four years ago and now try to sell. The price at the peak was 600k$, but may have dropped in the meantime. You have every incentive to try and ensure that the place sells sooner rather than later because you actually have skin in the game. Rather than trying to hold out for 600k$, you may list at 550k$ and be happy to get what you can…
