Is it a good time to buy a home?

Are you looking to buy a home in 2025 in Delaware? So this is going to be the video for you because we're walking into what winter and spring are going to look like, not just for the whole state, but for each county asking when is the best time to buy? When is the best time to sell? And where are prices going in Northern, Central, and Southern Delaware? To do that, we'll be reviewing the loft report. If you'd like to follow along with me, scan this QR code, we update the numbers every single month. Homes in Delaware are selling for $399,900. And the median list price is almost the exact same. What does that mean? It means that when a home is listed for sale, it's usually getting the same price at the closing table. So sellers are getting what they're asking for. We had 1,665 new homes hit the market in October, mid-fall of this market. And that left us with 3,820 homes actively on the market. So is it a good time to buy in Delaware? To answer that, let's go down to the bottom quadrants for those following along on the loft report. The average days on market. What is that? That is the amount of time it takes for a home to hit the market, be publicly available for sale, and inevitably receive an offer that the buyer and seller agree on to take it off the market. On average, that's taking 38 days, and we can see since last year, that's up 18%. Let's move over to the right, month's supply of inventory. What does that mean? That means if nobody else sold their home, there was no other homes that hit the market, and we only had what was available, how long would our current buyer demand take to eat up all of the homes that are on the market? Now, this number is trended as low as 1.7 months for the state of Delaware, and that was in 2021. As of right now, though, we can see since last year, that number is climbing up pretty steeply, up 26.92%, to now 3.3 months of inventory. What does that mean? It means for, is it a good time to buy? Yes, it's a better time to buy than it was last year. There are more options on the table, and there is more opportunity to negotiate because there are more homes on the market with a similar amount of demand, but let's look specifically at northern Delaware. Before we do that, 82% of the people that watch our videos are unsubscribed. If you're one of those people, and you've gained value from this channel before, hit the subscribe button. It helps our algorithm, and it helps us be able to stay in front of you with active Delaware data that can help you in your relocation, or move to the great state of Delaware. Northern Delaware, to get things started, had three school districts that are showing a great increase over last year. In New Castle County, above the canal, we have Brandywine and the Red Clay Consolidated School Districts, selling for on median $380,000 and $360,000. Both are up year over year, 3.4% and 9.09% respectively, merging into the partially above the canal, partially below the canal, the Colonial School District, which you'll see hugs the eastern side of New Castle County, is up 14.29%. Median homes now selling for $340,000 in the Colonial School District. This was an area that a lot of people were used to getting the $270,000, $280,000 home not very long ago. Those days are gone, new prices are here, and we can see it right here in the numbers. Homes in New Castle County, on median, are selling for $365,000, with the median listing price being $340,000. Now to answer our question, is it a good time to buy in Northern Delaware, let's go down to the next page to look all the way at the bottom and see our average days on market. The average days on market is 22 days. Now when we just looked at the state's numbers, we saw 38. So why are New Castle County homes selling so much faster? Delaware, on average, is taking five to five and a half weeks, whereas homes that are listed in the New Castle area are selling in two to three weeks. Is there a reason for this difference? Well, yes. For one, we can look at the fourth quadrant and see total homes for sale at 961. This is up 18% since last year, and this number, the total homes for sale, the total homes available, these are the publicly available homes to go see, evaluate with your spouse, your friends, your whoever you're buying a property with, and place an offer to buy. These options need to grow, needs to explode, honestly, if we want to see home prices come down or at least this very hot housing market slow up. What do I mean by that? What I mean by that is the average days on market in a neutral housing market is about 55 to 75 days on average. In New Castle, it's just three weeks, and above the canal specifically, it's as low as 15 days. People maybe like yourself that are looking to move into Delaware, especially over the Philadelphia line, over from New Jersey, down from New York, love hopping just over the line into the Brandywine areas, into the above the canal sector of New Castle County, and those homes get eaten up fast. Is it a good time to buy in Northern Delaware right now? It is competitive. I'd say it's not a great time. Where will prices be in Northern Delaware in spring of 2025? Let's answer that in a moment. First, let's look at Central Delaware. Cesar Rodney, Lake Forest, and Milford all seeing drastic increases since last year. This is coming as no surprise. Throughout the year, we've seen a lot of these counties having higher numbers than they put up last year. You may be asking, Zach, why is that? Why are home prices going up in Delaware? Why are all these school districts gaining in value? Let me answer that. Delaware is a lot of things, but for most people, it's three things. It's an affordable area that is also a tax haven for property, shopping, and local taxes. It is a community-focused, event-centric, very homey atmosphere, and it is protective and honestly really just set up for the retiree class that is coming into Delaware. More and more people are moving to Delaware for the affordability factors, for wanting to feel like they're actually a part of a community, and the retirement benefits are bar none the best. Delaware was just rated the best state to retire to. It's not an argument, and ultimately, it's difficult to see prices going down in areas like this. The median home in Central Delaware is selling for $359,000. We can see that that is higher than it was last year at 14.29%. The new homes that got listed in October of this year is up from last year. That's great. More homes hitting the market available for sale. That's up 22.83%, and the number of homes that are on the market right now available to go see, evaluate, and place an offer on, 631 in Central Delaware, but there is one concerning number on this screen, homes that sold. We see that number's down with 185 homes that sold. That is down 4% since last October, and to be honest with you, this October, last October, and the October before that all had a record low in sales in comparison to the past five years, so seeing that that number's actually dropped is a little concerning. It says that buyer demand may be weaning faster than supply is growing, and for further proof that demand is waning, we look at the average days on market, 37 days. That is up 37% since last year. We were in the mid-20s, low-20s last year, and in the teens, 14, 15, 19 days on market when we're in 2021, 2022. As we walk into 2025, we're now seeing days on market creep into the month and a month and a half range. With 3.4 months of supply, we see that homes are available to go see, homes are available to place offers on, and more are becoming available with 21% increase in that number since last year. It was a good time to buy in Central Delaware, I'd say at the moment. Homes are hitting the market, less are actually selling. That means that buyer demand is going down while supply is creeping up. I think by winter, end of winter especially, we're going to see a different outlook in Kent County, and I got to say, it looks a little bit more red than I think most people would be comfortable with me talking about. Save that for a moment. Let's look at Southern Delaware. Southern Delaware continues to see mass improvement since last year with more people flocking to the beaches, more specifically, all down the East Coast from Lewis to Fenwick. Southern Delaware continues to see more of the same with Cape Henlopen, Seaford School District, and even the Indian River School District showing improvement, the Indian River School District and Cape School District being two of the most highly rated in Southern Delaware. Home prices mirror that with the median home selling at $471,000. That is up 5.44% since last year, so price is still going up. But the number I want to point your eyes to for those following along is 2,228. That is how many homes are available in Sussex County, and that is up 30% since last year. And a quick callback to the beginning of the video when we walked through all of Delaware's inventory, about 3,800, and if you're sharp, you may have already noticed this, but if you didn't, let me show you. 2,228, in comparison to the 3,800 number I mentioned earlier when talking about how many homes are available in the entire state of Delaware, means Sussex County holds 65% of all of the homes for sale. They're not even the biggest county by population. That's Newcastle. Newcastle's nearly double the size by population. But Sussex County, between new construction, those looking to sell their homes, and those looking to just get out of Dodge for one reason or another, get to Florida, that inventory, 65% of the entire state's inventory of homes. A wild stat. And if we look at the bottom two numbers, we're going to see some evidence toward movement into a buyer's market, with 52 days being the average days on market, and four and a half months of supply currently on the market. Average days on market is creeping toward the two-month mark, and if we creep over 75 days on average, ring, ring, ring, we are officially setting off the bells to alert you we would be in a buyer's market. And month's supply of inventory is creeping in on six months. Six months is also seen as the line of where we would be considered, at least in Sussex County, to be in a buyer's market. If you'd like to know the home value for each county, see the notable areas, hospitals, even home improvement costs, and what your mortgage would be, it's all in this loft report. Download it. We're not going to read through all of it today. We're just hitting the key points. But let's talk about where home prices will be come this spring in Delaware. Let's rock from the top to the bottom in New Castle County, spring 2025, I'm predicting home prices will be up three and a half to 5% from this time right now. That's right over a six-month span. From now until May of 2025, home prices more than likely will increase. We'll also more than likely see an increase in inventory as we walk out of winter, February, March-ish, and into spring, right around April. This is when we see the most inventory typically hit the New Castle County market. We assume that, like we've seen in the past three years, that demand will sweep up those homes, keeping days on market low, potentially still below that 30-day mark. New Castle County, especially above the canal, will remain hot, and prices are probably going up with it. Kent County is low in two items, demand and supply. Why is demand low? Mortgage rates, affordability. Based off the median income of Kent County, Delaware and the median sales price of a home in Kent County, Delaware, the average person in Kent County simply can't afford the home in Kent County. And you may say, Zach, what about the people relocating into Delaware? Well, to be frank with you, Middletown, Wilmington, and The Beaches are the three most common areas, and neither one of those three are in Central Delaware. So demand is low in Central Delaware. And supply remains low as well, with a lot of people suffering from what is called the golden handcuffs, with Delaware being an average to just above average cost of living area. It has often been seen, at least for the last 10 years, as an area to move into that is more affordable than areas like Jersey, New York, Maine, Connecticut. And anybody who bought a home in Delaware for that reason before 2022 had a lower rate, had a lower home price. And if they decided to sell, well, they would be making a silly financial move, because they would go to a home with a three times higher mortgage payment, and all their equity would be gone. So inventory isn't hitting the market. What does that mean for spring of 2025? I predict that demand stays low, supply begins to slowly increase as we exit winter, and we see a world where home prices start to decline in Kent County, Delaware. That's right. I'm saying it right here, right now. Spring of 2025, we've been monitoring the numbers for a while. We've been throwing the prediction out there as a maybe. I'm throwing it in as now more of a probable, a probable likelihood, I would say, if that's a way you phrase those words together, a probable likelihood that home prices will be lower in spring of 2025 than they are right now. And lastly, Sussex County, Delaware, 65% of all the homes for sale are right in Southern Delaware. The beaches house about 50% of that, so about 1,100 homes right on the East Coast. Those homes are going to keep selling. The demand is high. The sand, they aren't making any more sand, and the neighborhoods, frankly, they're running out of space. So supply and demand is simple here. There aren't enough homes to build to supply the intense demand for all the people looking to buy at the beaches. Home prices scoot up. In Western Sussex County, though, Georgetown, Laurel, all the way up to Harrington, different market. But this is a market that's slowly being seen more and more as a rural opportunity. I can get my land. I can get the trees on the acreage. I can get a little bit on the outskirts, all while still being close. And this is why I think the price points could go up a bit more aggressively than at the beaches. The beaches have already seen a high price point and probably will continue to see a higher price point. But there is untapped potential in Western Sussex, and I think by this time next year, we're seeing two to three and a half percent higher sale prices in Western Sussex County as opposed to right now. If you'd like to see how we do on these predictions, we'll make a video in the spring of 2025. So subscribe to see that video to see how we did on these predictions, and we'll analyze this video versus what actually happened. But I got to say, I think we're going to do pretty good. For keeping up with all things Delaware, especially the Delaware housing market, download our loft report. It's the best report in Delaware. Find a better housing report in Delaware. I dare you. You won't find it. It's this one. Download it. We'll put a new one in your hands every single month. My name is Zachary Faust, and if you'd like to talk with me about making a move or relocation into Delaware, here's the best number to call, text, do that by. Otherwise, I hope you have a dandy Delaware day. Hit one of these beautiful videos that are popping up on the screen to see more of our content. We put out content each Friday for those looking to relocate to the great first state of Delaware.