Fourteen active resale listings in Civita right now. Six months ago there were maybe five or six at any given time. That's the kind of shift people miss because nobody sends out a press release about it.
Mission Valley inventory has been creeping upward since late February. Not a flood, mind you. More like a slow drip that's starting to fill the bucket. The MLS is showing roughly 25 to 30 percent more active listings across the valley compared to this time last year. And the days on market number is stretching. Properties that would have gone pending in a week last spring are sitting for two, sometimes three.
Sellers, this doesn't mean the sky is falling. It means your pricing strategy actually matters now. You can't just slap a number on it, sit back, and wait for a bidding war. Those days were brilliant while they lasted. They're not coming back this quarter. If your home has been sitting for three weeks with no offers, the market is talking to you. Listen to it.
Buyers, here's what I want you to pay attention to. You have options you didn't have a year ago. More selection means more leverage, even if it doesn't feel like it yet. I've had two clients this month get seller credits on closing costs in Mission Valley. That was unheard of in 2023.
Investors, this is where my old financial planning brain kicks in. The cap rate conversation is getting more interesting. A two bedroom in one of the Riverwalk buildings that traded at a 4.2 cap last year might pencil closer to 4.8 or 5 now, depending on what you negotiate. That's not a massive swing, but it changes the math on a ten year hold.
The thing I keep telling people is that a shifting market isn't a bad market. It's just a different market. The people who get hurt are the ones still playing by last year's rules. Sellers who refuse to adjust price. Buyers who wait for some imaginary crash. Investors running projections with 2021 rent growth assumptions.
I've been doing this for twenty years and the pattern repeats. Markets loosen, people panic, then six months later they wish they'd moved when things were quiet.
Friday I walked through a listing on Friars Road that had been reduced twice. Still a solid property. Just priced wrong the first go round.
Who's adjusting and who's waiting?