Comparing April 2021 to April 2022 | 5/12/22

We compared April of 2021 to April of 2022, looking at single family homes and condos combined, in Chittenden and Franklin counties. Grand Isle County had too few sales to make a statement about the market there. 

We keep thinking the numbers year-over-year will change, and yet we continue to see growth in the average sale price and a decrease in homes sold. We are also seeing a decrease in the number of days on market. There is still a low supply of homes and high demand, and this drives up prices. 

In Chittenden County there was an 11.4% drop in the number of homes sold, from 136 in 2021 to 122 in 2022. The average price rose a whopping 29% from $449,168 in 2021 to $579,043 in 2022. Of significance was the average number of days on market before the home was under deposit – 46 days in 2021 and only 26 days in 2022. This computes to a 77% reduction in the number of days on the market. 

In Franklin County, there was a 51% drop in the number of homes sold, from 59 in 2021 to 39 in 2022. The average sales price rose from $270,751 in 2021 to $338,914 for another incredible increase of 25%. The number of days on the market dropped 41% from 41 days in 2021 to 29 days in 2022.

Yes, it’s still a seller’s market in both counties, indicated by the drop in homes sold, an increase in the average sales price, bidding wars, and fewer days on the market. 

What are we seeing in the field? Here are two examples: I wrote an offer on a house for buyers who had lost out on three multiple offers and their offer was the only offer. The next day, another buyer liked a home that had 18 offers on it! Same price range, different towns. How do you account for these disparate situations? If the list price is set a bit lower than the market indicates, there will be many showings which will likely cause multiple offers. If they price at market or a bit higher, there will be fewer offers. We recommend being realistic with a price, leaning on the lower side to encourage more showings and more offers. 

Here’s my crystal ball, and it’s just my crystal ball! (I could be wrong, of course! We are all trying to predict where this market is going.)  The interest rates are rising, discouraging new buyers to the market. They are looking at their own crystal ball and say they are willing to wait until the rates go down again. (When will that be?) I think the buyers who have been trying to buy for some time will stay in the market regardless of the increase in interest rates. They have been struggling for so long to buy a home that they are not going to give up now. When those buyers who were looking when the interest rates were in the 3% range find homes, taking those numbers of buyers out of commission, I think the market will start to open up a bit. I don’t see the market switching to a buyer’s market any time soon, but I see more inventory in our future. One caveat is that when the market starts to soften, the high-priced homes start to feel the market shift first – fewer showings, fewer offers, and fewer offers that are way over asking.