Across the nation, year-over-year home appreciation is slowing. That’s good news for a number of reasons we’ll get to in a bit. It’s important to remember that what we are saying is that appreciation is slowing. Prices are still going up across the board, but the speed at which they are increasing is finally slowing up a bit.

This is good news for a lot of buyers that have become frustrated as prices have rapidly been increasing while they are shopping. Many buyers have looked back at homes they thought were overpriced at the beginning of their search, and wish they had jumped on the opportunity when it existed. Now the penalty for waiting might be a bit more palatable, and take the pressure off of the buyers in the market.

The good news for sellers is the slowing of price appreciation might finally allow some to downsize without feeling like they’re walking away from their best investment. Many sellers we talk to are planning for a move, but hate to sell their current property while the value of their property was increasing so rapidly.