As home buyers start pulling away from the sizzling hot and hyper expensive housing market, what effect might it have on your property taxes?
The Asking Prices Are Just Too High
Redfin reports 76% more homes have sold in Nassau County over the past year. Prices are up around 10% over last year. They are up over 14% in Suffolk County according to Zillow.
Nationally, home prices have risen by over 14%, a record pace not seen in over 15 years. Many homes have been selling for thousands over the asking price in fierce bidding wars.
However, cracks may already be showing in the market.
Redfin reports that homes in Manhattan are already selling for under asking prices, with an average of 146 days on the market. That compares to other parts of the country where new house listings had been selling out in days or hours.
This trend in Manhattan could certainly be spiraling outwards.
Buyers Reject High Prices
Fannie Mae’s National Housing Survey shows that the number of people who think it is a good time to buy a home has dropped to a new record low as of May 2021. Down sharply from March.
The overwhelming majority of those surveyed now say it is not a good time, or it is a bad time to buy a home.
This is believed to mostly be due to hyper-inflation. Inflation that is being compounded, not only in house prices, but daily living expenses and taxes.
This seems to already be showing up in the data, as pending home sales dropped by around 4.5% in April 2021.
This is typically a leading indicator of the direction of closed home sales and home prices.
Talk of a new interest rate hiking spree could also quickly put the brakes on the housing market, making it far more expensive to buy the same home, or blocking millions from qualifying for mortgages.
If You’ve Been Thinking About Selling Your Home…
If you’ve been thinking about selling, there’s a chance you already missed the peak. More importantly, you need to understand your property tax assessment and bill can greatly impact your home’s competitiveness on the market, affordability, and appeal to potential buyers. If they are looking at two similar homes, and your property taxes are higher, because you haven’t appealed your taxes, then they are probably going to buy the other one instead.
If You Plan To Stay…
If though your property tax assessment and annual bill should go down as property values come down, don’t expect a voluntary reduction. In fact, just expect higher bills. They’ll keep pushing them higher until you push back. Make it a priority right now to exercise your right to appeal and correct it now, so that your home remains more affordable.