National Association of REALTORS®
DISTANCE MOVED
METHOD OF SALE
• Exhibits 6-22 and 6-23
• Exhibits 6-24 through 6-27
Home sellers in mid-2009 to mid-2010 moved a median of 18 miles, one mile less than the year before. By region, those in the West still moved the furthest at the median (20 miles), but this distance is nearly half the median distance Western sellers moved the year before (41 miles). Age is also correlated with the distance home sellers move. While only about one in ten sellers under 44 years old moved 1001 miles or more, among sellers 65 years or older the proportion was nearly one in five. Still, many moves are local. Regardless of age group, the most common distance moved was 5 miles or less.
In a stabilizing housing market sellers understand the importance of working with real estate professionals. Eightyeight percent of home sellers sold their home with the assistance of a real estate agent, an increase of 3 percent due to fewer for-sale-by-owner (FSBO) sales. FSBOs declined in the Midwest and South while sellers’ use of agents increased in every region except the Northeast where 89 percent of sellers used an agent, unchanged for each year.
In a stabilizing housing market sellers understand the importance of working with real estate professionals. Eighty-eight percent of home sellers sold their home with the assistance of a real estate agent, an increase of 3 percent due to fewer for-sale-by-owner (FSBO) sales.
The level of urgency with which sellers must complete the sale of their home does not correspond with the method of sale in an intuitive way. Regardless of urgency, more than 82 percent of sellers were assisted by an agent. Sellers with the greatest urgency were least likely to use an agent and most likely to try a FSBO sale, sell to a home buying company, or some other method. The method of sale tends to differ in conjunction with the relationship between the buyer and seller. If the buyer and seller know each other, the sale can be either an arms-length transaction consistent with local market conditions or it may involve considerations that would be not be relevant in the absence of a prior relationship. Among all home sellers, 8 percent reported that they knew the buyer of their home compared with 9 percent in the 2009 Profile. Among those sellers that were assisted by an agent, just 3 percent knew the buyer. In contrast, more than half of FSBO sellers indicated that they knew the buyer of their home before the transaction. In one in ten transactions where the seller knew the buyer an agent listed the home, but it was ultimately a FSBO sale. However, an agent was employed in three in ten transactions where the seller knew the buyer.
National Association of REALTORS® | Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers 2010
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