The great slowdown heading into the end of the year.
This week transactions really slowed down with the holidays in full swing. This is anticipated every year as the market really pulls back for the last 2 weeks in December, with the week between Christmas and New Years being the slowest week of the year.
As the holidays approach showings decrease rapidly as people focus their free time on spending it with family. Showings slowed week over week by 11.2% to 8,120 total showings that were set. This means an average listing in Metro Denver should have had 1.5 shows in the last week to hit showing benchmarks. I expect this number to be much slower as people take time off in the next week. If you are a buyer, next week would be a great time to get out there and take advantage of the serious sellers who really want to sell this year. Buyers will have enhanced negotiating power into the last week of 2022.
Looking forward into 2023 I've had a lot of questions as to how to time the market. Timing the market is tricky, and I'm comparing the years of 2013-2019 and excluding the pandemic years of abnormal market activity from 2020-2022. Based on data from the previous cycle before we dipped into the pandemic the best listing months are March-May. Traditionally our market picks up the weekend directly following Super Bowl, usually by 25-30% for pending transactions. We'll be keeping a close eye on what happens with rates, supply and demand heading into next year as our market continues to normalize. Here is a heat map showing hot spots and cool zones by listing and projected closing month. Red indicates seller's favor, and blue indicates buyer opportunity.
