Not afraid to move up

Clearly, the housing market in my little suburb near the nation's capital has changed. There are more homes on the market than I've seen in years, and my real estate agent has sent me the third notice about price reductions (plus a hardwood floor re-do) on a nice Victorian she's been trying to sell since winter. But I wonder if the weaker market has actually encouraged more owners to put their homes up for sale--and not for the usual reasons of financial hardship. Look at it this way: In last year's buyer's frenzy there was a real risk for move-up buyers that they could be stranded without a home. They could sell their homes in a heartbeat--but then they'd have to jump into that wild sellers' market and pay too much for a replacement. Without a compelling need to sell, it was simply too risky to give up a good-enough old home, so many owners stayed put. This year, they can see that it's going to be harder to sell their home and that they may get less for it than they would have last year. But with a big equity cushion under them, that may be tolerable. At least they see a good supply of move-up homes available to them once they finally get the old place sold. And if the move-up home's price declines along with the old home, the difference is a wash, anyway.