A Seller’s PERSPECTIVE

With the onset of the spring buying season, luxury home sellers are rightly questioning if it’s the right time to put their homes on the market. Will they get their asking price? If they do sell, where will they move?

The locations that currently offer the best opportunities for sellers are those that are balanced – i.e., most of them can achieve their full asking price based on fair market value (or close to it) and have enough available home inventory to be able to find a replacement home in the same market. In many luxury home markets across the country, sellers can get close to asking prices since luxury home inventory is still not at a level that’s favorable to buyers.

To determine which markets rank highest as seller opportunity markets, we measured the SP/LP% of sold homes and buyer demand against the increase of available inventory in the last four months of 2022. The markets that presented the best prospects for sellers were closest to an SP/LP% of 100% and where end-of-year inventory levels increased by over 34% since August 2022 (which is the national average increase of inventory).

Midwest

Midwestern markets like St. Louis, Indiana’s Hamilton County, and Johnson County, Kansas, will likely be the friendliest to sellers in 2023. St. Louis was the No. 1 seller opportunity market with a 55% sales ratio (where demand was higher than supply) and the SP/LP% remained above 100% of asking price. Meanwhile, there was also a 43.38% increase in inventory. Thanks to stable home price growth and strong supply-demand dynamics, luxury sellers in St. Louis have a better chance of reaching their asking price and finding their next home without too much competition. Affordable Midwest metros1 like St. Louis have continued to fare well in 2023, with several topping the charts2 for residential markets to watch for good reason. These markets did not see prices rise as rapidly as some coastal areas during the “Zoom” boom, and they often end up on “Best Places to Live” lists because of their affordability, good schools, and quality of life.

East Coast

Richmond, Virginia, took the third spot on our seller Index. Ranked No. 9 on U.S. News & World Report’s 2022 “Best Places to Live on the East Coast,” 3 the River City also may hold increasing opportunities for sellers this year – especially if they live in a desirable school district, their home is in good condition, and their home is priced well. 4 Inventory is tight yet improving and the SP/LP% logged in at 100% of asking price. The rapidly growing area of Raleigh, North Carolina, also ranked high on the Index for sellers.