How to analyze a buyers/sellers market

[Blake Ramsey]

Hello everyone, my name is Blake Ramsey and I am an aerospace engineering student based out of Springfield, Mo. I have been doing a lot of research over the past year preparing myself to buy my first property in the upcoming year, and I just had a question about how to analyze local markets.

I am in Springfield, Mo, and I have been analyzing properties left and right, but I have come across very few properties that can actually meet the 1% rule. I know that is not the only metric that should be taken into account when analyzing a property, but the COC returns, ROI, and Cap rates are all very underwhelming as well.

My question is, I feel like we are in a sellers market here in Springfield, but how can I actually run the numbers and calculate that we are in a buyers/sellers market. I've seen formulas like props for sale / props sold in the last month: <5 its a sellers market, >7 its a buyers market, and in between 5-7 is neutral. Is this a good indication of what kind of market we're in? Are there any resources to help figure this out?

I'd appreciate any input!