Ada Sales Ahead of Last Year
This is what I wrote in my last newsletter at the beginning of September
Last year this month we were talking about the problems in the mortgage market and how they had squashed what little momentum the market might have had at the time. This week we’re talking about how the recent government actions might affect the mortgage market. Already this week we’ve seen mortgage rates go down between a quarter and a half point. Funding this year is not a problem if you have good credit and a stable income. And there are plenty of home sellers waiting for you.
The biggest news this month is a continuation of what I pointed out last month, that the inventory of homes for sale in Ada County continues to go down. Last year at the end of August there were more than 4850 active Single Family listings. There are currently 4488. The decrease is coming more from sellers who do not have to sell right now throwing in the towel and waiting for a better market. There is a lot of competition in the market right now from short sale and bank owned properties. This is taking the prices below what many folks feel is fair for their homes, so they are sitting out.
In August there were 480 homes sold, which represents a 24% decline from a year ago. It is barely below the July number though, which is good. Pending contracts are down to 601, indicating that sales are slowing down now, which is the seasonal trend. I’ll be curious to see the September numbers. Last year’s September sales fell below January’s, which is pretty unusual. I do not expect that this year, but I do not see the market turning around either. Great time if you’re a buyer, but pretty tough on the sellers. If you’re in a home you like, don’t worry about the market, just enjoy living in it.
I still do not see the turnaround, especially considering what is going on in Washington D.C. right now, but I do have some interesting, and good, news from here in Ada County. This morning the September sales number for single family homes is 334 month to date. Same time last year? Only 298! That’s great news, even remembering that the September numbers last year were seriously limited by the first big mortgage market problem (remember that one?). We haven’t had a month with sales ahead of the previous year since May of 2006, which was roughly the top of our crazy boom market. It is quite a positive step to see a monthly increase in sales and I see no reason that we shouldn’t end the month with an increase over a year ago!
As long as we’re talking numbers here, there are currently 642 contracts pending, which is up from the beginning of the month, and there are 4466 single family homes actively listed in the county. That number is slightly lower than the beginning of the month. Prices are still creeping down, and I have heard of some contracts in the last couple weeks where the appraisal came in below the contract price. While that is not terribly unusual in a downtrending market, it is never a happy thing, and indicates we are not out of the woods yet.
