Besides the distressed property analysis that we always talk about, the report centers on the Average Sales Price of homes, New Listings entering the market, and the total number of Active Listings on the market. We are going to talk about how these three metrics are changing, how they inter-relate, and what to be on the lookout for.
The average sales price for January is the highest we have seen since August. This reflects an ongoing significant decrease in the number of homes on the market →fewer homes to choose from →more competition for those homes →higher prices.
At the same time that prices are rising due to decreasing inventory, January marked the highest number of new listings to the hit the market since August. It will be interesting to watch how these somewhat conflicting metrics resolve themselves.
Finally, I included a chart that shows overall inventory – not just new listings – to show you the steady decline of available homes on the market.
Distressed Sales Analysis:
A bank owned/foreclosure home is one that the seller no longer owns – it has been taken over by the lender(s) who had a note on the home. Short sales are homes where the seller is negotiating with the bank to “forgive” a portion of the debt in order to avoid foreclosure.
January statistics saw the number of bank owned/foreclosure sales DECREASE by 15.9%, short sales decrease by 22.7%, and traditional sales drop by 17% over December; however, the overall comparative percentages remained the same, with foreclosures moving up to 28.4%, short sales dropping to 29.4%, and non-distressed sales moving up to 42.1% of all sales in January.
This statistic means that the competition from foreclosure properties decreased while traditional sales from sellers with equity increased.
Sellers and buyers need to monitor this trend to see how the market continues to respond to the current inventory.
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Click HERE to view report in its entirety.
