SEATTLE — February 8, 2015— Home sellers this season are taking a more grounded approach to pricing than they did in the fall, according to Redfin (www.redfin.com), the next-generation real estate brokerage. In the latest Redfin Real-Time Home-Seller Survey conducted last month, 57 percent of home sellers said their strategy was to price their property in a middle range, an increase of 7 points from Redfin’s October survey. Thirty-two percent said they would price high, down from 34 percent.
“We’ve seen a shift in the right direction toward pricing in the middle range to better encourage multiple offers,” said Will Fassinger, a Redfin agent in Atlanta. “There’s always the fear of becoming a stale listing that scares buyers off or pricing so low that you don’t attract the right buyers. We advise sellers that we don’t have to negotiate a ton to get the preferred price.”
Economy and inventory are top concerns
General economic conditions continued to trouble sellers, with a third citing it as a top concern. Almost as many were worried about finding another house to buy, echoing the results of Redfin’s October seller survey. A chronically low inventory of properties for sale has created a housing logjam.
“Even with surging home prices, listings were still down three percent in January from a year ago,” said Redfin chief economist Nela Richardson. “Sellers are worried that today’s buyers won’t pay enough for their current home to finance their next-level house.”
The Redfin Real-Time Home-Seller Survey is a companion to the quarterly Buyer Survey and Agent Survey. Click here to view the full report, including data and charts. Additional data is also available by contacting press@redfin.com.
About the Survey
This survey was conducted January 17-27, 2016 with responses from 605 home sellers in 25 states.
About Redfin
Redfin (www.redfin.com) is a next-generation real estate brokerage that represents people buying and selling homes. Founded by technologists, Redfin employs a team of experienced, full-service real estate agents who are advocates for their clients, earning customer-satisfaction bonuses, not just commissions. Redfin.com features all the broker-listed homes for sale, as well as for-sale-by-owner properties that don’t pay brokers a commission. Redfin also offers online tools, built by its own software engineers, that make the entire process of buying or selling a home easier. The company serves more than 80 major markets across the U.S. and has closed more than $25 billion in home sales. In 2014, Redfin was included in CNBC’s Disruptor 50 list as an innovator that is revolutionizing the real estate industry.
