What Can Homebuyers Expect From Our Spring Market?

For our a look ahead at our spring market, we’ll focus separately on the Prior Lake Savage and Shakopee areas and talk about how inventory levels are shaking out in three distinct price ranges.

The first of those price ranges is the first-time buyer market, which typically represents homes priced up to $250,000. In both Prior Lake Savage and Shakopee, there is no new construction in this level of inventory. What’s really interesting, though, is that the number of active listings and the number of pending listings in both communities are identical. This tells us that though first-time buyers may not be able to build a new home, the inventory that is coming on the market is moving at a nice clip.

The second price range is the move-up buyer market, which is roughly between $250,000 and $400,000. This market is slightly different in both Prior Lake Savage and Shakopee in that there is some new construction inventory. However, existing inventory tends to pend or sell faster in this range because move-up buyers look for value, and you can often find better value in the existing market where home features like decks, patios, gutters, and window treatments are already done for you.

North of $400,000, it’s an entirely different ball game. There is a lot more pending inventory and an extensive amount of active inventory because there are fewer buyers.

What does this mean moving forward in 2018? It means first-time buyers will predominantly stick to existing inventory. Above the $400,000 mark, there will be a lot of new construction inventory and existing inventory because we’re already in a low-inventory market in general.

Considering inventory levels are so low, make sure you make a smart buying decision if you are a homebuyer. By that we mean pay attention to prices as more inventory comes on the market during spring and summer because they may get inflated. Also, remember that interest rates are still low and very competitive.

As always, whatever you do, make sure you have an experienced agent on your side. If you have any questions about our market or you’re thinking of buying or selling a home, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We’d be glad to help you.