Home Sellers? Expectations Move Higher

June 3, 2002

Gap Widens Between Prices Sellers Want To Get, Buyers Want To Pay

The gap between the price online home sellers hoped to get for their homes and the amount Internet home buyers wished to pay for those homes in April was the highest reported since Emeryville, Calif.-based HomeGain began releasing such data in September.

The April differential was $121,000, up 8 percent from $112,000 reported in March and up 25 percent from the $87,000 gap first reported in September.

HomeGain found homeowners using the Internet in April expected their home sale to yield an average price of $257,000, up from $253,000 in March.

But prospective buyers said they wished to pay only $136,000, down from $141,000 in March.

"While more homes are coming on the market for the spring selling season, the current 4.8 month supply of homes on the market is still low by industry standards," said HomeGain founder and chairman Bradley J. Inman. "This gives buyers less competition and more room for negotiating, which explains the gap between seller's and buyer's expectations." Inman is also a founder and the publisher of Inman News Features.

HomeGain also reported:

· The typical buyer wanted to purchase a single-family detached home located in a suburb.

· The median down payment was $27,285.

· The average home sought measured 1,600 square feet and had 2.7 bedrooms and 1.7 bathrooms.

· 83 percent of home buyers said their home purchase wasn?t contingent on the sale of their existing home. Thirty-one percent of the buyers owned a home.

· 88 percent of the home buyers said they planned to select a real estate agent within the next eight weeks.

· Nearly half of the home buyers had yet to apply for a home loan.

The 10 cities with the highest home sales price expectations in April were the San Francisco Bay Area at $483,000, Orange County, Calif., at $401,000, Boston at $325,000, Los Angeles at $341,000, New York City at $393,000, San Diego at $331,000, Sacramento at $321,000; Denver at $259,000, Washington, D.C., at $257,000 and Riverside/San Bernardino, Calif., at $237,000.

Copyright: Inman News Service


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