Faced with tight inventories of homes for sale, more buyers are realizing they may have to bend a little in order to get the home they want. 

According to a new survey by the real estate brokerage Redfin, 35 percent of real estate agents said that buyers are now “willing to pay more” to find a home compared to this summer. About 30 percent of agents also reported that buyers are more “flexible on features,” held “lower expectations” for how far their money would stretch, and were “looking to new construction” due to inventory constraints. Real estate agents also reported that homebuyers were more “prepared to waive contingencies” in order to win a bid. 

Eighty-seven percent of the Redfin real estate agents surveyed cited “limited inventory” as the biggest challenge that homebuyers face nationwide. 

While homebuyers may be getting more realistic about market conditions, the survey found that sellers are not. Sixty-three percent of agents said that sellers have “unrealistic expectations” about the value of their home. What’s more, 31 percent of agents say that sellers also are frustrated with the number of homes available that they would be interested in buying.

Source: Redfin