The housing market experienced a great swing of activity in the summer months, but what’s happening now as the market starts to cool?

Homebuyer interest may have surged to its highest level in years during the summer homebuying season, but new survey results from Redfin suggest it may be tapering somewhat as the year draws to a close.

According to the latest Redfin Real-Time Seller Survey, which polled 535 homeowners in 24 major metro areas (including Chicagoland), home seller confidence, particularly involving buyer interest, dropped markedly from the third to the fourth quarter.

Disappointment Abounds in Real-Time Seller Survey

The main findings in Redfin’s Real-Time Seller Survey included:

• Thirty percent of homeowners sampled said that homebuyers exhibited “a little less than expected” interest in their home, while 13 percent said they showed “much less than expected.” In case your math skills are rusty, that’s 43 percent of homeowners who saw less-than-stellar interest in their listings.
• Similarly, just 34 percent of respondents see now as a “good time” to sell their home, down from 48 percent in the third quarter (that’s nearly a 30 percent drop in confidence).
• Furthermore, the number of respondents saying now is an “ok time” to sell rose from 42 to 45 percent, while 39 percent said it was a “good time,” which is down from 45 percent.
• Unsurprisingly, economic concerns were a chief reason for the numbers; 39 percent said that “general economic conditions” were their top concern on listing their home, up from 25 percent in the third quarter (a 56 percent uptick).

Troubles on the Home Front?

Those numbers are pretty scary, but how consistent are they here in Miami? Again, Redfin did sample homeowners in our area for its research.

For Christopher Zoller, though, an agent with EWM Realty in South Florida, the numbers could not be more different from his experiences.

“I don’t know who they are talking to, but they’re not talking to our market,” he said. “Yesterday alone, I got an offer on three different listings. The offers are coming in at every price level, from the $2 million houses down to the $200,000 houses.”

“Don’t forget,” he continued, “that we are about to come into our hottest selling season. Dec. 1 marks the beginning of the tourist season in Miami, and with the tourists come suitcases full of cash and opportunities to invest or buy or find a property in Miami. So frankly, the brokerage community here in Miami is gearing up for what we think is going to be one of the hottest selling seasons we’ve had in many years.”