This is not an industry term. There is no official definition for a ‘stabilizing phase’. It happens at the end of every market increase. Asking prices start to exceed buyer’s limits. There are fewer buyers qualified at each price point and they are less aggressive. It’s confusing because there can be hold-over buyers from the aggressive phase, who make big offers, and down the street a property gets a mix of less aggressive buyers. Two similar properties can sell for widely different prices. That is a fact and it causes consumers (and agents) a lot of confusion. It leads to confusion with selecting an asking price and confusion in determining what a buyer should offer based on the asking price. Sometimes it’s a realistic asking price and other times it’s well below expectations.
The take-away is that the market is figuring itself out. It’s changing week by week. Be careful about taking any one story you hear from a friend as a strong indicator of market conditions. The level of competition for buyers and expected sale prices for sellers is constantly changing.
Your plans will need some flexibility. We’re here to start those conversations early so you have options to choose from and time to make all the preparations you can to find the best odds of success. Best of luck to any of you engaging in this very challenging market.