Ed Justen -DRE: 02221512 - Affiliated with Keller Williams. Article copy sourced from the California Association of Realtors. Housing data sourced from MetroList. 
It's a new month. Let's take a look at how Modesto home sales panned out in March.
The economic data from last week demonstrates that the U.S. has consistently out-performed the more gloomy outlooks that called for slower growth in 2023. And although a stronger economy has, thus far, meant upward pressure on mortgage rates, the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage remains below 7% where it has been since early December.
This has helped to thaw the overall housing market, which has seen pending sales rise for the first time since rates hit bottom in early 2021.
However, as the rebound in housing demand has yet to be accompanied by and equal (or greater) supply response, the market in California is quickly becoming competitive once again as fewer sellers are reducing price and the median price continues its upward trend that began last summer.
This trend shows locally as well. Currently there are 157 homes available in Modesto, with a January inventory rate of 1.6 (this means that if no houses were added to the current stock, it would take 1.6 months to sell all the available homes). See the chart below for a breakdown of the number of house in each price bracket.
Zooming in further, we saw a total of 153 homes for sale in January, down from the previous month. This is the third month in row where the number of homes available have decreased.
A drop in interest rates (a much anticipated event for buyers) is not imminent though, due to yesterday's announcement by the Fed that the prime rate will remain the same for the foreseeable future, as the economy seems to be humming along.
What does this mean for you? While the recent drop in the APR has brought a slew of new buyers to the market, many are still waiting for an even lower drop in the prime rate. Some loan types are seeing a rate as low as 5.5%. Locally the market contiues to favor the seller. If you’re a buyer, current rates are favorable, and now is good time to move on property before a significant drop bring in more competition.