The appraisers here will surely be able to give you a better answer, but it’s my understanding that appraisers look at sales AND listings — largely to determine where prices were and where they are going. If comparable sales are higher than current listings, one might assume that prices are going down. If new listings are higher than recent sales (and there’s a history of increasing prices in those sales numbers), one might assume prices are going up.
This would probably affect how restrictive a lender would be with mortgage terms & conditions.
