What are absorption rates, and do you know what yours is?

By
Real Estate Agent with Keller Williams Realty Coeur d'Alene AB37665

If you are trying to sell your house, one of the pieces of information that should be factored into your pricing strategy is the absorption rate for homes in your specific community and PRICE RANGE. 

Absorption rates vary WIDELY from town to town and neighborhood to neighborhood, and also from price range to price range within those communities.

An absorption rate will tell you, based on current market activity, how many months, or even years, it should take to get your house sold in our current market, at a particular price.  The formula is really very simple if you have the statistical info that you need.

Let's say you have a home to sell for $250,000.  And let's say that there were 10 homes that sold for $250,000 in the past year.  Currently there are 10 competing $250,000 homes.  It's easy to see that with 10 sales a year, and 10 homes on the market, it should take a year (at 10 homes a year) for the market to naturally absorb the existing inventory of $250,000 homes.  The absorption rate is 1 years for $250,000 homes in your community. 

Absorption RateAbsorption rates vary widely by price range.  It's quite an eye-opening statistic.  And it shows us that locally it really depends on price range whether it's a buyers market or a sellers market.  A six months inventory of homes is generally considered to be a balanced market.  More homes than that would make for a Buyers market, fewer would make for a Sellers market.  Absorption Rates are all about supply and demand. 

I have absorption rates for Coeur d'Alene, Post Falls, Hayden, Rathdrum, Spirit Lake, Silver Valley and Sandpoint.  Also broken down for condos, multi-family, waterfront and properties over $1M. 

Call me if you would like to find out YOUR absorption rate!

The more competitive your niche in the market, the more competitive you will need to be in pricing, condition, staging and marketing.  Knowledge is power, and in this market anything you can do to give yourself a competitive edge will payoff in spades!

Posted by

Janna Rankin Scharf provides a superior level of real estate service to home buyers and sellers in Coeur d'Alene and Kootenai County, Idaho. Visit www.JannaScharf.com for area information and to search for all homes in the Coeur d'Alene Multiple Listing Service. 

No matter how grand or modest your real estate dreams may be, you can turn to me in confidence.  Give me a call today so I can  be of service to you!

Janna Rankin Scharf AB, GRI, CLHMS, PMN, SFR  208.651.9700

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Comments (2)

Bob Miller
Keller Williams Cornerstone Realty - Ocala, FL
The Ocala Dream Team

Hi Janna, when we do a CMA we always highlight how many closed and an estimate of how many active comparables will likely close in that same time frame.  That clearly shows absorption rate for the seller.

Nov 15, 2012 07:06 PM
Barbara Tattersall
Keller Williams Realty Metropolitan (Keene,NH) - Keene, NH
GRI

Absorption rates are so helpful in showing sellers the danger of over-pricing.  It's an eye opener when they see it might take 15 months to sell a property.  It also shows sales trends.  A very useful real estate tool.

Nov 15, 2012 07:21 PM

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