Why are home prices still rising?

Home prices have risen nationally for six straight years. It’s true. The National Assn. of REALTORS® recently tweeted this amazing statistic: Median home prices in the U.S. have risen on a year-over-year basis for 72 consecutive months.

Home prices are rising locally, too. The median home price in Benton & Franklin counties was $198,000 at the end of 2014, and rose to $251,100 at the end of 2017.

Why are home prices still rising? It’s a simple answer: There are more purchasers in the market right now than there are available homes for them to buy. This is an example of the theory of “supply and demand” which goes like this:

“the amount of a commodity, product, or service available and the desire of buyers for it, considered as factors regulating its price.”

When demand exceeds supply, prices go up. This is currently happening in the residential real estate market.

Here are the national numbers for supply and demand as compared to last year for the last three months (March numbers are not yet available):

In each of the last three months, demand (buyer traffic) has increased as compared to last year while supply (number of available listings) has decreased. If this situation persists, home values will continue to increase.

Conclusion

The reason home prices are still rising is because there are many purchasers looking to buy, but very few homeowners ready to sell. This imbalance is the reason prices will continue to rise.

If you’ve been thinking about selling your home, now might be a great time. I can do a market analysis to help you understand what your home might be worth in today’s Tri-Cities real estate market. Get in touch below — it’s free and there’s no obligation.