Soaring Home Prices Are Roiling Appraisals and Upending Sales

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal (reposted on Realtor.com) says soaring home prices are “roiling appraisals and upending sales.” They report that more & more properties are being valued below their agreed-upon sales price, causing some deals to collapse. The reason is because home buyers are frequently paying above asking price in bidding wars, and the subsequent appraisals not keeping up with the rapid sales price increases. According to CoreLogic, around 13% of appraisals came in below the contract price in August. CoreLogic says January’s figure of 7.4% was more typical for the housing market. Continue reading HERE...