{"id":5409,"date":"2025-02-04T11:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-04T11:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sandpointrealtyidaho.com\/blog\/2025\/02\/04\/buyer-bright-spot-there-are-more-homes-on-the-market\/"},"modified":"2025-02-04T11:30:00","modified_gmt":"2025-02-04T11:30:00","slug":"buyer-bright-spot-there-are-more-homes-on-the-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sandpointrealtyidaho.com\/blog\/2025\/02\/04\/buyer-bright-spot-there-are-more-homes-on-the-market\/","title":{"rendered":"Buyer Bright Spot: There Are More Homes on the Market"},"content":{"rendered":"<body>\n<div><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\"  src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sandpointrealtyidaho.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/20250204-Buyer-Bright-Spot-There-Are-More-Homes-on-the-Market-original.png?w=1220&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Buyer Bright Spot: There Are More Homes on the Market Simplifying The Market\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"display: block; margin-bottom: 5px; clear: both; max-width: 100%;\">\n<p>The past few years have been challenging for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.simplifyingthemarket.com\/2025\/01\/29\/two-resources-that-can-help-you-buy-a-home-right-now\/?a=783612-02a11606fc81d6a6e402d49bc5bfe20b\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">homebuyers<\/a>, especially with higher home prices and mortgage rates. And if you\u2019re trying to buy a home, it\u2019s easy to worry you won\u2019t be able to find something in your budget.<\/p>\n<p>But here\u2019s what you need to know. The number of homes for sale has grown a whole lot lately and that\u2019s true for both existing (previously lived-in) and newly built homes. Here\u2019s a look at those two bright spots for buyers right now and why they may make it a bit easier to find the home you\u2019re been looking for.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>1. There Are 22% More Existing Homes for Sale <\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.realtor.com\/research\/december-2024-data\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Data<\/a> from <em>Realtor.com<\/em> says the number of existing homes for sale improved by an impressive 22% in 2024. And experts say your pool of options is expected to get even better this year. Forecasts <a href=\"https:\/\/www.housingwire.com\/articles\/rising-inventory-for-the-2025-housing-market\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">show<\/a> inventory is projected to grow <strong>another 11-15%<\/strong> by the end of this year (<em>see graph below<\/em>):<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sandpointrealtyidaho.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/20250204-2025-For-Sale-Inventory-Forecasts-original.png?ssl=1\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sandpointrealtyidaho.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/20250204-2025-For-Sale-Inventory-Forecasts-original.png?w=1220&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"a graph of sales in inventory\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/a>Here\u2019s why this is so good for your search. If you haven\u2019t seen a house with all the features you need, just know that, as the number of homes for sale grows, you\u2019ll have more options to choose from. That means a better chance of finding a home that checks all your boxes. As Ralph McLaughlin, Senior Economist at <em>Realtor.com,<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thestreet.com\/video\/good-news-for-homebuyers-in-2025\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">says<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>\u201c<\/em><strong><em>It could be a particularly good time to get out into the market . . . you\u2019re going to have more choice.<\/em><\/strong><em> And that\u2019s not something that buyers have really had much over the past several years.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h4><strong>2. There Are More Newly Built Homes on the Market<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nahb.org\/-\/media\/NAHB\/news-and-economics\/docs\/housing-economics\/sales\/nationwide-sales-and-inventory.pdf?rev=2a0e5741e9ea48c1b6e91a9b03677a5c&amp;hash=D0A99213F8688CE67BB701E648D05ED8\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">data<\/a> from the <em>Census<\/em> and the <em>National Association of<\/em> <em>Realtors<\/em> (NAR), 31.1%, or roughly 1 in 3, homes on the market right now are newly built homes. That\u2019s more than the norm (<em>see charts below<\/em>). But don\u2019t worry, that\u2019s not because builders are overdoing it \u2013 it\u2019s just that they\u2019re trying to catch up after years of underbuilding.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sandpointrealtyidaho.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/20250204-Newly-Built-Homes-as-a-Percent-of-All-Homes-for-Sale-original.png?ssl=1\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sandpointrealtyidaho.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/20250204-Newly-Built-Homes-as-a-Percent-of-All-Homes-for-Sale-original.png?w=1220&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"a graph of a pie chart\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/a>And the best part is, since builders have been focusing on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.simplifyingthemarket.com\/2025\/01\/23\/smaller-homes-bigger-opportunities-the-homebuilder-trend-buyers-love\/?a=783612-02a11606fc81d6a6e402d49bc5bfe20b\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">smaller homes<\/a> with lower price points, you may actually find out new builds are less expensive than you\u2019d expect. So, while a lot of people write off new construction because it\u2019s easy to assume the costs are way higher, lately, that price gap isn\u2019t as big as you\u2019d think. As CNET <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnet.com\/personal-finance\/homes-in-short-supply-how-inventory-will-shape-the-2025-housing-market\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">says<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>\u201cIf you live in an area where there\u2019s a lot of new construction happening . . . <\/em><strong><em>you might be able to purchase a new house for a price similar to or even less than a pre-owned one<\/em><\/strong><em>.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>If you haven\u2019t been able to find a home that\u2019s in your budget, it\u2019s time to ask your agent about new builds. If you don\u2019t, you may have been cutting your pool of options by about a third.<\/p>\n<h3>Bottom Line<\/h3>\n<p>More choices could be the key to unlocking your homebuying goals in 2025. Talk to a local agent if you want to see what\u2019s available in your area.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What features are you looking for in your next home<\/strong>? Let an agent know so they can put together a list of homes you\u2019d love.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The past few years have been challenging for homebuyers, especially with higher home prices and mortgage rates. And if you\u2019re trying to buy a home, it\u2019s easy to worry you won\u2019t be able to find something in your budget. But here\u2019s what you need to know. The number of homes for sale has grown a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5410,"comment_status":"registered_only","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12],"tags":[29,27,20,18,28],"class_list":["post-5409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-real-estate-insight","tag-idaho-real-estate","tag-north-idaho-homes","tag-rain-silverhawk","tag-real-estate","tag-sandpoint-idaho"],"aioseo_notices":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sandpointrealtyidaho.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/20250204-Buyer-Bright-Spot-There-Are-More-Homes-on-the-Market-original.png?fit=750%2C410&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdz2Zu-1pf","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandpointrealtyidaho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandpointrealtyidaho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandpointrealtyidaho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandpointrealtyidaho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandpointrealtyidaho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sandpointrealtyidaho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5409\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandpointrealtyidaho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandpointrealtyidaho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandpointrealtyidaho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandpointrealtyidaho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}