List now to get the most out of your home

SALT LAKE CITY — Across the U.S., homes listed in late April tend to sell faster and are more likely to get more than asking price, according to redfin.com. 

Here in Utah, we follow that trend with home sales spiking in late spring and early summer.

“Kids are getting out of school, and so people can finish out the school year, and now they can move and finish out that transition in the summertime,”  said Utah Association of Realtors 2027 President-Elect, Aaron Drussel. “That’s a pretty common mindset for a lot of people.”

Homes also look their best this time of year.  The yard is green and flowers are blooming, appealing to buyers more than almost any other time of year. 

But mortgage rates have recently ticked up, possibly keeping some buyers on the sidelines.

“It has caused a little bit of a pause.  We saw interest rates drop in February, and that started to spur some excitement, and we started to see some people moving forward.  And we thought we would see that into the spring season,” said Drussel.  ” But then, with some of the uncertainty internationally, rates have gone up.  We have rates in the mid-6s right now, and that’s caused people to hesitate.”

But there’s a silver lining.  We could be setting up a win-win situation for both buyers and sellers. 

Utah has been dealing with a housing inventory shortage for years.  If more homes hit the market and a lot of buyers are holding off, home hunters will have more to choose from.

“It does give a little more selection for buyers right now because once rates adjust, it will bring another group of buyers back on the marketplace, and that will affect their negotiating power,” said Drussel.

Sellers should still be able to get good prices for their homes because of the shortage.

“There just is too much pent-up demand to allow for homes to have a significant adjustment in price,” said Drussel. “There’s too much population growth to allow for that to exist.”