Home Buyers Waiting for price drops
WOULD-BE HOME BUYERS HESITATE
Bay Area sellers drop prices, wait longer for offers as shoppers seek a better deal — and fear their new purchase will drop in value
Monday, June 11, 2007
The Bay Area real estate market has become a giant game of chicken. Just 18 months ago, buyers swarmed open houses waving piles of cash. Now they are staying away in droves, waiting for prices to fall.
“Buyers don’t want to buy until we’re at the bottom of the market,” said Dean Wehrle, vice president for Northern California of the Sullivan Group Real Estate Advisors, which does consulting for new-home builders, developers and lenders. “It’s the converse of 2003, ‘04 and ‘05, when people would jump in the market because of the frenzy, thinking that they had to get in now because appreciation would go on forever in the double digits.”
