Source: CNBC
Sales and prices are moving so quickly that appraisals are not keeping up. If the appraisal doesn't match the contract price, the buyer doesn't get the mortgage, and the deal dies.
The national median price of a home sold in June hit $263,800, a record, according to the National Association of Realtors. In addition, the average number of days a listing took to go under contract fell to just 28, down from 34 a year ago.
"Anytime prices move up fast, the actual appraisal process, because they're looking back in history, not forward into the future, they are lagging behind," said Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the Realtors group. "From the buyer's perspective, it's a tough situation where they want to rely on the value of the home, on the appraisal, yet they know that if they decide to back away there are other buyers waiting to pounce."
Lenders are now far more careful with appraisals than they were during the last housing boom. In turn, appraisers are being very cautious with the current price run-up.
That history gives today's cash buyers, many of whom are investors flipping homes for a quick profit, a major advantage over mortgage-dependent buyers. Once again, they're pushing prices higher artificially, but this time they are doing it without the banks.
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