Condo market continues to struggle

Builders today have little confidence that the market for residential condominiums will improve any time soon.

This information comes from the people who should know, the National Association of Home Builders.

The association measures builder confidence in various markets throughout the year. It’s a complicated formula, but the gist of the formula at the present time is this: Builders have little hope that the slumping condo market is going to improve significantly in the next six months. You can read about the survey here.

David Seiders, chief economist with the National Association of Home Builders, says the condo market become too “overheated” during the housing boom. Now that the housing market continues to slump, the market for condominiums has gone flat. Basically,  there are too many condominiums up for sale at the same time.

It’s even harder for sellers to move condos than it is for them to sell single-family homes. Older condos are constantly competing against the many newer units built during the housing boom. And even the newer units face intense competition from similarly newer units that are almost identical. It all comes down to price and location. Buyers are off in either category may find themselves sitting for a long time on a condo they can’t sell.