Wow! It has been quite a ride over the last decade in this marketplace. From a median sales price for a free-standing home of $319,000 in 2006 to a low of $119,000 December 2011 and now back to $149,000 to end the year
What’s next? Hard to say, but looking that some of the statistics I do think some insight is possible. 45.8% of closed sales in December were short sales. Just under 10% were foreclosures. As of seven months ago, there were 8,889 distressed properties on the market. Now there are 1,360. Prices for the year are up 24.2% for free-standing homes.
There are presently 4,606 homes on the market with 822 being short sales and 537 being foreclosures. As of the present, short sales and foreclosures are just a small percentage of all listings and given that they have dominated the sales and listings for several years. this market looks to be truly in a continued state of change
I believe that prices will go up, at least in the short run. Inventories are wiped out in many of the local planned communities. Conventional sales will make a comeback, again, at least in the short run. With still 60% of homeowners under water and reluctant to make any move, I believe that inventories will be low for some time. Unfortunately, the percentage of homeowners under water will probably impact this marketplace for years to come.
There may or many not be a “shadow inventory” of bank owned homes about to hit the marketplace, but as of now, the notices of default have been fairly steady and at a low level, compared to the last few years.
That’s it for now! Back next month with more information.
