August 2008 Home Sales Report

I still feel like we are at or very close to a market bottom. There is a lot of uncertainty in the market and I just do not think there is going to be any drastic change until there is some certainty. Even with all the short sales and the foreclosure properties I think we are at an impasse in the market, although, Investors are out looking at property and they are the ones who are taking advantage of the low prices.

Despite news of all the foreclosures, inventories of homes in the area are down abot 9% from last year. This is yet another positive sign as we have had way too much inventory on the market. Having fewer homes has certainly helped to stabilize prices.

It is clear though that the banks are motivated to move the properties they have and the homeowners who are in good standing, and do not need to move are taking homes off the market to wait out the market.

All in all, the market is pretty dull right now.

Market Notables

• Single family home sales for the month of August 2008 are down 26% from 2007.

• Year to date sales of single family homes in the area are down 23% from last year

• The average price per square foot of a home sold in August of 2008 was $164/sf.  Down ~3.5% from a year ago ($170). However, this has been flat to slightly up since the low in January.

• The average number of days it took to sell a home in August of 2008 was 144 days. 4% less than last year which was at 150 days.

• The number of homes on the market in August 2008 was 819 homes. This is about 9% fewer than in 2007. This is about an 8 month supply of homes.