Photo via Redfin
Photo via Redfin

Homeowners looking to sell are driven more by optimism than urgency in a housing market that is “approaching something that resembles normalcy,” according to the latest Redfin Research report.

Redfin also found that one in five sellers are now listing their homes to make a profit.

Those are the latest findings of a poll of 730 home sellers in October in several major U.S. markets, including Seattle. “Home sellers were more likely to cite typical life-cycle motivators like upgrading or downsizing than wanting to get another home under contract before a looming mortgage rate hike,” Redfin states.

A year ago, they report that 59 percent of sellers wanted to buy another house before prices or interest rates went up. Only 16 percent cited those reasons this year.

What are sellers’ most common concerns about the residential real estate market? “Wanting a larger or nicer home (29%), relocating to a new city (27%) and wanting a smaller home (21%).”

Photo via Redfin
Photo via Redfin

Think you’re going to cash in though? Buyers are getting savvier, too.

“Seller optimism is flying high right now,” Redfin chief economist Nela Richardson said in the post. “But buyers are more grounded now and pricing a home too high is risky. More sellers are having to drop their initial asking price this fall than a year ago.”

It’s still a sellers’ market, however, with 60 percent of Redfin respondents saying that they held the power, up from 46 percent last year. For 2016, 63 percent are confident prices will continue to rise, and 27 percent are waiting to sell because they think their home will be worth more next year.

Photo via Redfin
Photo via Redfin

However, Redfin says that many sellers might want to take down their expectations a bit, despite Seattle’s hot real estate market.

“Many sellers are coming to the market with an expectation that their home will sell for the same amount their neighbor’s did three months ago, but that’s no longer an accurate reflection of the market,” said Boston Redfin agent Scott Driscoll in the post.

“Even more than normal for this time of year, I’m frequently reining in seller’s expectations, advising them to consider the very latest data on nearby sales and homebuyer demand.”

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