Home owners entering the market are motivated to sell desiring either an upgrade or a downsized home, finds a new survey conducted by realtor.com®. Home owners looking to move due to retirement or to lower their cost of living were the two biggest increases this year in realtor.com®’s survey revealing sellers’ top motivations.

“This is a good sign that more home owners may be motivated in the year ahead to sell their homes,” writes Jonathan Smoke, realtor.com®’s chief economist, in a recent column about inventory challenges plaguing markets. “A lack of inventory has been the biggest problem buyers faced for most of the past year.”

Indeed, in 2014, active inventory at realtor.com® totaled 2.1 million residential listings. In August of this year, however, active inventories have plummeted to 1.7 million active listings, a drop of more than 8 percent.

Realtor.com® recently identified the following top motivators for selling, including:
• They want a different neighborhood : 42%
• They need a bigger home : 21%
• They need a home with different features : 21%
• They need a smaller home : 19%
• They want a location with better weather/view/lifestyle : 19%
• They need to lower their cost of living : 19%
• They are getting ready to retire or just retired : 15%

But even when home owners want to sell, they may not be able to. Home owners reported the top impediments to selling were their perception of having to make improvements to their home first and the concern over finding a new property to purchase before selling. Sellers expressed concern about the dearth of homes for sale that make it difficult to find a new home.

What Really Makes Sellers Want to Move by RealtorMag