Survey Says It's a Good Time to Sell a Home and a Bad Time to Buy

Today's buyers and sellers are largely in agreement about the state of the housing market.

When we think about the housing market today, a few things come to mind -- namely, low home inventory and sky-high prices. In fact, it's pretty easy to draw the conclusion that right now is a great time to be on the seller side of things, and a bad time to be looking to buy.

The public largely agrees. In fact, according to the June Fannie Mae Home Purchase Sentiment Index, 64% of people say it's a bad time to buy a home, up from 56% the previous month. By contrast, 77% of people say it's a good time to sell your home, up from 67% in May.

Should you buy a home today?

Buyers today are facing a world of challenges. While mortgage rates are extremely competitive, home prices are so inflated that low rates aren't enough to make up for them. Also, limited inventory is making it difficult for a lot of people to find suitable homes. And when they do find those homes, they often lose them to higher bidders.

If you've been having a difficult time finding a home to buy or making an offer on a home that gets accepted, then you may want to pause your home search for a while and wait for more available properties to hit the market. Once that happens, housing prices should start to come down, leaving you with more affordable options to choose from. Bidding wars should also start to die down once there's a greater selection of homes.

Should you sell a home today?

In today's market, sellers clearly have the upper hand, and if you list your home, you may walk away with a lot more money for it than you'd normally command. There's just one problem -- if you sell your home, you'll need someplace new to live. And so what you gain in the sale of your property, you might lose by paying a premium to buy another.

Now one situation that may work out in your favor is if you're selling a larger home and are ready to downsize your space. Say you sell a larger home for $50,000 more than you'd normally get but buy a smaller one for $20,000 more than normal. All told, you're still up a nice chunk of money.

Similarly, if you're willing to sell your home and rent for a couple of years, you might set yourself up to pocket a large profit and then buy another home at a much lower price point once this red-hot housing market cools off. And while the cost of moving will eat into your profit, you might still walk away with a lot of money. But of course there's the hassle factor to consider in this solution, so it may not be ideal for you.

When will the market start to shift?

It's hard to predict when inventory will really pick up and home prices will drop significantly. Though the supply of available homes did rise in May compared to where it sat in April, it was still down 31.2% from the previous May. And it's going to take a lot more movement than that to create an equalized housing market where sellers no longer have such a solid upper hand. For now, buyers' best bet may be to sit tight and wait things out, while sellers may want to capitalize on the opportunity to make a lot of money if the circumstances align in their favor.