When the supply of homes for sale is low, home sellers’ benefit. Too few available homes means active listings gain extra interest from buyers who don’t have as many options. That leads to higher prices and bigger profits. There’s no better evidence of this than ATTOM Data Solutions’ third-quarter U.S. Home Sales Report, which shows profit margins on median-priced single-family home sales have increased again. In fact, the typical home seller profit rose to $129,900 in the third quarter. That’s up 5 percent from the second quarter and 3.2 percent from last year. Put simply, inventory remains low and sellers are benefiting. Rod Barber, ATTOM’s CEO, says the market continued its rebound this summer. “Prices and profits around the U.S. got another boost over the summer, as the housing market continued recovering from last year’s setbacks,” Barber said. “Things do remain uncertain heading into the market’s annual fall slowdown, especially at a time when mortgage rates are rising again, home affordability is getting tougher and the potential for a recession hangs in the air. But the latest gains fell in line with what we often see during the third quarter and showed that any predictions of an extended market fallback may have been premature.” (source)
