June 2008 Housing National Data

Hot off the ticker information courtesy of NAR and the talkin heads at CNBC...

Existing Home Sales fell in June by 2.6% (a seasonally adjusted rate) with 4.86 million sold units, the lowest sales reported since 1998. Existing Home sales dropped 15.5% from June 2007.

Inventory of existing homes is up another .2% to a total of 4.49 units. This represents an 11.1 month supply of available homes. Ouch. This number just keeps growing. Note - Silver City inventory has inched up as well, but days on market for sold properties has declined substantially..

Median Home price for existing homes sold was $215,100 which is down 6.1% from June of 2007, and this is the lowest since 2004.

You will want to see this Silver City site built home

Regionally:
The Northeast reported -6.6% sales of existing homes
The Midwest reported --3.4%
The South reported -3.1%
with the West showing an increase of 1%.

Why an increase out West???

Perhaps because the West has seen prices drop across the board a big 17%. When a market takes a crapper, some of the good deals get washed out too, and create potential value for bottom fishing. Some savvy buyers are obviously active and some are scoring big out West.

Search all of the MLS listings and FSBO too

Disturbing News - Well Yes IMO

Western State Realtors (California) have polled that 33% to 40% of the existing homes being sold are in some form " foreclosure properties". Wow..... Enough said...

Things are going surprisngly well now in Silver City with the common expression "slammed" being used by many of the recently "Maytag" like real estate professionals. Yep we are getting busy. Buyers and sellers have found some level of comfort in our somewhat stable market.

You gotta love this place for any number of reasons..... ---aarcher--->

Silver City Real Estate - 2nd Quarter stats and projections

Hi Friends of Silver City,

Activity seems to be on the rise (as normal and as expected) with the arrival of summer. In light of the national real estate crisis, things in our market continue to be "ok to about average" in our community. The word on the street is that things have picked up a notch or two and are increasing and improving - I echo this sentiment, especially over the last 4-5 weeks...

The 2nd Quarter of 2008 shows a total of 80 units SOLD (for all classes of property). Quarter 1 reports show 64 units reported sold in comparison.


Breaking this down for Residential sales - Quarter 2 reports 51 residential class listings selling at an average of $161,902 per unit. The residential number is up 2 units (from the 49 residential listings sold in Q1), but the average price has seen some slippage with the Q1 average being $169,751. Interesting that the DOM (Days on Market) have actually decreased for this important category - from 183 DOM in Q1 to only 140 DOM in Q2. (CORRECTION MADE 7-23-2008) Stats were re-posted and were corrected from 183 DOM listed in 2007 and should read 139... Virtually no change in DOM...

When we explore how the sales of residential listings for the 2nd Q of 2008 stacks up against 2007 and 2006 results, the following interesting data turns up:

2006 2nd Q - residential sales reported were 102 with an average sales price of $164,709
2007 2nd Q - residential sales reported were 96 with an average sales price of $191,575 (?)
2008 2nd Q - residential sales reported were 51 units with an average price of $161,902

Search all of the listings for free at the Premier Real Estate website serving Grant County

Go with the trend! Following the trends is the way to go if you are picking stocks. I don't believe we should put too much faith in trend lines for real estate as in the decline which the annual comparison of number's suggest. Those of us who watch the market data closely KNOW that we are in turn around mode in many of the nation's hardest hit communities. IMO -There will be additional (considerable) pain for some very specific regions ahead. The areas most discussed by the talking heads (San Diego, Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Miami, etc..) are reeling from the hurt, and they have much more to give back before they are done I fear. In areas like Silver City, however, we have been saved from the "big pain" that others are feeling - and our market is seeing signs of an up-tic. Perhaps we are seeing the flat to slight downtrend here reversed. I believe that the next Quarter numbers will accurately reflect additional recovery for our local market.

It is a great time to be looking at investing in the real estate market in this area. There are a few sweet deals to be had, and savvy Buyers are in somewhat aggressive mode. (Savvy) Sellers have started giving up the dream of making obscene profits in very short time frames as well, and a reasonableness in pricing is starting to be displayed. There are profits to be taken, but not EZ "blue sky" profits as before. The not so savvy Sellers may find their properties (currently priced above fair market value) likely to continue to sit with little activity from potential buyers.

State of Affairs -Properties without functional or environmental obsolescence and that are priced reasonably, are seeing decent to good activity, with many offers to purchase in well below average DOM...

It takes a good Realtor to help you price your home properly so that it sees good activity, just as it takes a good Realtor to keep you from snapping up the deal that really isn't a deal. Don't place an offer based upon what someone is asking. You need to understand and study the current market values for Sold and Active listings. You really need the aid of a service and brokerage with a network of skilled professionals to be effective in this kind of market. What you don't need is someone who looks primarily at the commissions* to be earned when identifying and helping you find potential properties.

The rainy season has started, and we are loving it. It's cool and virtually perfect sleeping weather for me. Fire danger is seriously reduced, and we are blessed for that. Our best to those in California who have not been so fortunate.

--aarcher--->

*If it seems your Realtor wants to only show his own office and personal listings, well.... just be wary of the potential for conflict of interest...