The housing market is continuing to slow, but homebuyers are benefiting from the slower pace. Accepted offers that included a sale contingency have increased.
This is a huge indication that buyers now have more buying power than they’ve had as of late.
The Sale Contingency is on the Rise
Obviously, buyers use the sale contingency clause out of necessity, and while they’ve been written into offers well before now, there has been an increase in buyers including them in their offers.
Currently, fewer buyers are able to get qualified to hold two mortgages simultaneously, which means they absolutely can’t purchase a new home until they sell their current home.
Sellers are Willing to Work with a Sale Contingency Clause
More accepted offers with a sale contingency included means that sellers are willing to work with them. The fact that listing agents and their sellers are opening up to the idea of accepting offers with a sale contingency clause is proof that the market is moving closer to becoming more balanced between sellers and buyers.
This balance is good for the housing market. The extremely competitive market that we’ve been seeing in a lot of areas definitely scared away some of the potential buyers. There was so much competition between buyers that it was becoming impossible for them to get a foot in the door.
Having to work with limited time, getting into bidding wars on properties, and even having to skip important things like inspections made it undesirable (and sometimes impossible) to try and purchase a home. That’s why we’ve seen a lot of potential buyers bow out of purchasing, putting it off until later.
Buyers Returning to the Market
With the market coming to more of a balance between buyers and sellers, we may see more buyers come back. The way the market has been, with the power so heavily on the seller’s side, seemed almost unfair to any buyer.
If the market is moving more in the buyer’s favor, we are sure to see some of those potential buyers enter back into the market, see buyers able to negotiate and see less competition between buyers.
