Buyer Fatigue.

It's Real.

In a typical (as in non-Covid) year, the activity in local real estate market starts to slow down a bit around this time of year. I've discussed it numerous times before on the blog, but the normal culprits for this slowdown are usually graduations, weddings, and vacations. Buyers are simply getting pulled away to other seasonal functions that preempt house hunting.

But in this ultra-competitive housing market that we're experiencing now, there's another factor that can significantly reduce the buying activity: Buyer fatigue.

It used to be that the real estate market each year didn't get started in earnest until sometime after Super Bowl Sunday. Often, you wouldn't really see the market really take off until March. But savvy sellers realize that buyers are out in droves as early as January looking for homes, and the market conditions are at their very best for sellers — more buyers, and relatively few listings. This has translated into much more buying activity in the months of January and February.

This early start to the year means that buyers are writing offers now in January instead of March or April, and in a market where literally every home is seeing multiple offers, there are far more offers being written than there are homes being sold. For the unfortunate buyer on the losing end of several tries, the emotional and mental toll of losing repeated offers is very real and very taxing.

The result is that we see many buyers put their home searches on hold for a few months at this time of year, and then re-enter the market in the fall after summer vacation is over. While it's probably a necessary step to maintain their sanity, the reality is that they are possibly missing the most favorable conditions for buyers all year — ample inventory, and less competition. In just the past two weeks, this swing in momentum was definitely noticeable.

If you're a buyer in this current market, stick to it if you can. The next two months are probably the best chance you have of landing your dream home without enduring another multiple offer slug fest.