Prior to compiling data and analyzing the trends over the past few months I would have bet the numbers would show a clear improvement over last year. The market was pretty active during the Summer of 2011, but this year it feels a lot better. I suppose it only feels better because I’ve been very busy this past summer, in fact I can’t remember a summer season this busy in quite a while. Anyway, here’s what took place during the month of July, compared to one year ago.
July closed sales down 18.7% compared to July ’11, up 13% YTD.
The number of closed sales compared with July 2011 were down about 18%, but closed sales YTD are up 13%. The great news is that pending sales are up a ton both year to date and compared with one year ago. I’d rather see closed sales numbers to match, but I’ll take it!
Comparing the summer season with last year
The second chart compares what we could consider the “peak” months of this summer season with last year. Two things to note:
- The inventory is slowly retracting (good) while closed sales remain mostly the same.
- Take a look at the median sold price. Can you say market shift?
I had to triple check the numbers when I saw the difference in the median sold price this summer vs. last. Holy cow!
What this tells us is the most active buyers are buying lower priced properties than last summer. You can also make the leap that home values plummeted, but really it’s just a market shift with the peak demand moving to a lower price point. An apples to apples comparison of comparable sales shows values have pretty much remained stable.
The most encouraging metric to me is the 15% reduction inventory. We’re slowly moving towards a more balanced market. Slowly.
About Jeremy
Jeremy Linder