why are prices INCREASING on houses that have been on mls for a while?

i noticed that when i looked at a couple houses on mls again that the prices went up $10-15,000?!

these houses have been on mls for a while.

is there a reason that they would increase the price? the houses are on the same block too if that matters.

eta....here is the breakdown of prices for one of the houses....
Current price
$399,999 —

Mar 28, 2014
Price Changed
$372,000 —

Nov 27, 2013
$395,000 —

Nov 3, 2013
Listed (New)
$402,990

Message edited 9/19/2014 2:42:26 PM.

why are prices INCREASING on houses that have been on mls for a while?

maybe there were sold houses that went for more recently so they changed the price based on those comps.

Re: why are prices INCREASING on houses that have been on mls for a while?

I can't say for sure without seeing the specific listing, but they could be short sales. Sometimes the seller's lender, who has to approve the sale, rejects a contract price and counters higher (based on their own valuations). If the deal falls apart, the listing agent would re-list the house, but with the goal of getting the higher price the bank wants.

Similarly, if a house was listed quite awhile ago, went into contract, and then fell out (say, because the buyer couldn't secure a mortgage), it may be listed higher again based on an updated market analysis.

But it would be highly unusual for a house to be listed for a long period of time, drop the price, and then list it for significantly higher, if it's just been sitting on the market and it's not a short sale that depends on bank approval.

why are prices INCREASING on houses that have been on mls for a while?

Maybe some improvements were done?

why are prices INCREASING on houses that have been on mls for a while?

my first thought is that they were getting offers that were too low so they upped the price so that the offers would be higher.

I have no idea though - I'm just making things up