PEPPER PIKE, Ohio — For the past few years, the housing market across the country has been surging. But numbers reported by real estate company Keller Williams last month show a 43% decline in homes sold and a 39% increase in homes for sale.Those numbers, one realtor says, don't reflect a cooling market, but instead reflect a shifting market.
"We went from a market that was absolutely insane where houses were coming on the market and selling in multiples before you and your buyer could even get into the house," Benoit said."There were so many times where, you know, as soon as a house came on the market, you had to stop what you were doing, set an appointment and race out to that house.
Soul searching that many potential home buyers have experienced themselves—some opting to stay with or turn to other alternatives like renting. "That kind of buying has stopped now," Benoit said."I have a couple of buyers that are interested in a more urban product. And I think those condos that you're seeing, like in the city, in Cleveland, and the tax-abated properties, I'm seeing fewer of those available. I see in the greater Cleveland area, a lot of builders doing luxury apartments as opposed to the condos that they were building five, six years ago. And that kind of shifts the market a little bit too.