Houses in Baldwin County are taking longer to sell, and realtors say that is completely normal.

After a bananas market that often saw houses snapped up before the sale sign was planted in the yard, houses are now sitting on the market an average of 62 days in Baldwin County.

Longer? Yes. Normal? Also yes.

In 2019, the average time a house sat on the market was 84 days.
Rachel Romash-Reese, a realtor with Elite Real Estate Solutions and president of Baldwin Realtors, said there is no need to worry about recent market statistics.

"I keep saying we are literally going back to what it was like in 2019 before the pandemic. It's not bad. It's just normal," she said.
"What happened in 2021 and 2022 was not a normal market," she said. "You won't see that again. It's literally like a unicorn."

Instead, as the market slows to a normal pace, normal feels unusual.

Not normal, however, is the price of a Baldwin County home.
The price point has risen 16% since this time last year. A low inventory has kept prices rising despite the booming home building across the county.

A housing shortage has been growing nationally for decades as builders slowed production during major economic events such as the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2012, the U.S. had a national stock of over 2 million homes for sale. By 2017, that number dropped to 1.5 million, according to Today's Homeowner.

During the pandemic, the national stock of available homes dropped to its lowest in decades to just over 829,000.

Romash-Reese said new home construction takes months, meaning families moving now have to choose from existing homes, which can be hard to find, particularly for buyers searching in a lower price range.

"If you look for a four-bedroom house on the Eastern Shore under $300,000, the pickings are very slim," she said.

Clients limited by an even smaller budget must choose from condos or apartments rather than single-family homes.

"It's so hard right now. I have a client who is a single mom, and her max price is $220,000. Really the only thing you can look at in that range are condos," Romash-Reese said.

With a limited supply and an increase in interest rates, the market is an even playing field for sellers and buyers.

Sellers, Romash-Reese said, are willing to negotiate more to get their house sold. Buyers are making more rational decisions because they don't have to rush their offer to beat other potential buyers.
Many buyers and sellers are also holding off on any decisions to see how the economy progresses, she said.

Romash-Reese said the most important thing for sellers to know now is that they should shop for a lender and work to get the best rate. Currently, many lenders are offering a 2-1 buydown program, which allows borrowers to make a lower mortgage payment for the first two years of their loan giving them time to refinance to a lower fixed rate.