For the last several years, prospective homebuyers have waded through a high-cost seller’s market marked by fierce competition, relentless bidding wars, and all-cash offers. Now, however, as high mortgage rates chip away at buyer demand, sellers are increasingly forced to make concessions, and that may give house hunters more bargaining power in the year ahead, CNN reports.
Home sales slumped for the 10th month in a row during November, and while prices aren’t expected to plunge in the coming months, housing costs are steadily cooling from peak highs seen throughout 2020 and 2021, giving buyers and sellers an even playing field in the 2023 market.
Jay Farner, who presides over America’s largest mortgage lender Rocket Mortgage, says the days of sellers holding all the power are over.
“Those moments of…there are 20 offers coming in are gone now. Buyers can take a bit more time,” Farner, the CEO of Rocket Companies, told CNN in an exclusive interview. “The buyer has a little bit more power or control on their side.”
“I’d say it’s an even market,” Farner said. “A few years ago, it was clearly a seller’s market. We were doing verified approvals, people were getting a full underwrite within 24 hours to ensure they could present almost like a cash buyer to make an offer on that home. Now, they have a bit more time. They have more homes they can look at…. We’re not seeing 15 offers on one home.”
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