'Market Mismatch' Closing, at Higher Price Point

According to new data from Trulia, more buyers are looking at homes in price ranges where more listings are available: the higher end of the market.

The price gap between search interest and available listings, market mismatch, has maintained the same level year-over-year, but dropped for the first time since the beginning of 2016, 15 percent last quarter, per Trulia's data. Felipe Chacón, housing economist for Trulia, says that though the price gap is closing, it's doing so at a higher price point, and starter home buyers may be giving up, "Recent changes are driven by search activity growing more slowly for starter homes than for trade-up and premium homes."

The tide on what has been a steady narrative of bad news for starter home buyers, seems to be shifting. Yet, persistent low inventory counts mean that rather than seeing the home buying process get less competitive for starter home shoppers, trade-up and premium shoppers are sharing a more similar experience of hyper competition and few options with starter home buyers for the first time in a while.

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