By David Fleet
Editor
Traditionally spring and warmer weather sparks the beginning of the home buying season.
That trend may be changing.
According to news sources and Realtor.com nationally from 2015 through 2018, the peak month for views-per listing was April—January lagged a full 16 percent.
However, in 2019, January was the most active on the site in 20 of the largest 100 metropolitan markets.

Competition for the homes on the market coupled with low interest rates and low inventory are changing the game plan for buyers.
“It’s a sellers market,” said Jason Gault of Real Estate One-Ortonville, who recently provided sales details for The Citizen newspaper readership area which includes Atlas, Brandon and Groveland township, including the villages of Ortonville and Goodrich.
Gault reported the parallel to the nationwide housing from data supplied by Realcomp.
“Consider that in 2010 there was a 12 month supply of homes,” said Gault. “As of Feb. 18, 2020 there was less than a four month supply of homes on the market in The Citizen readership area. If you had an average condition home, at average price, on average you could wait for a year to sell. That’s just not the case anymore.”
The Realcomp data is based on pending sales that reflects actual buyer activity in relation to what’s available for sale. For example, if there are 100 homes for sale and 100 people actively buying houses, the absorption rate is 100 percent.
Generally, a balanced market will be somewhere between four and six months of supply. Anything less than four months, sellers have gained asking power. If it’s greater than six months, buyers have the gained negotiation power.
“There are some seasonal changes,” he said. “Back then (2010), there was no seasonal changes since you could just not sell a house, the economy was still down.”
In early 2013 there were signs of life in the market, said Gault.
“The lowest month supply of homes was July 2016,” he said. “Then the market stared changing. June 2017 was low, then May 2018 was the low time for supply. Then last year (2019) inventory was hit bottom at about a three month supply in May. People are just not waiting to go into the market. The hot market period has changed to May to the end of November. We are just not seeing the hot summer season of sales—it’s shifted to the spring. People are staying in the market longer, they are making purchases over the winter and the holidays where in the past they had shied-away from.”
Inventory is getting snapped up much quicker, he added.
Price ranges of area homes are another factor.
According to Realcomp, years ago the average sale price in The Citizen readership market was under $125,000.
“The average sale price now is over $250,000,” said Gault. “And its been over $250,000 for a year and a half. It’s another reason you’re start seeing some shifts in how people react—the affordability has changed.”