How Do Days on Market Impact Home Sales?

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Days on market have a crucial impact on the sale of a real estate property. Because this is a crucial part of the sales as it affects the price of the property. In many cases, this is used as a negotiation tool. Let’s explore how it influences property sales.

Credit: bloomberg

What is DOM?

The property market is a complex idea. One of the unique terms used in real estate is “Days on market”, shortly known as DOM. It is a concept to describe how many days a property was left unsold. Technically speaking, it counts the number of days a property has been listed on a local multiple listing service or MLS till a seller accepts the offer. It can also be referred to as “time on market” or “market time”. For example, it takes a property 14 days to be sold from the listing day. It would be called “14 days on market” property. Which indicated it took the house 14 days to be accepted by a buyer.

Credit: nytimes

Explanation of “Low DOM and High DOM”

These are simple metric systems to have an idea about the average day of a house being sold. A low average DOM indicates a strong market that favors sellers. A high average DOM signals a weak market that favors buyers. But this metric is not constant all the time. There are seasons when homes sell quite fast. That time, low DOM, and high DOM comparison doesn’t work. But in most normal circumstances, this is a great indicator to check the quality of the real estate.

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Why is DOM important?

In real estate transactions, DOM is important for both the buyer and seller. Mostly the stakes are higher for sellers. Homes are more likely to generate the most interest when they are new to the market. After a few weeks pass, the phone calls, open house visits, and other showings drop. The reason behind this is that, if most of the buyers have seen the house and didn’t choose it from them, chances are new buyers are also going to not prefer the property. Which results in a higher number of DOM. This decreases the chance of the sale of the house.