Some Improvement

Written by Leslie Kopp Wednesday, 02 September 2009

Year-on year sales comparisons continued to show some improvement in July and August. Twenty-two single family homes went under contract in the two months this year compared to only sixteen a year earlier, an increase of 38%. Total dollar value, however, rose only 27% which is probably reflective of the continued price weakness we have seen for some time. The average sale price dropped 7% to 1.3 million.

The improvement, however, is not likely to have any positive effect on pricing at the moment. New properties coming on the market this year were up close to 50%, more than offsetting the increase in new contracts.

Activity remains generally positive and I am still somewhat encouraged about our fall market. The good news is that potential buyers are making offers. Of some concern is that many of these offers are extremely low, on already reduced prices. While we have seen some sellers this summer that needed to sell and willing to accept low offers, they were in the minority.

Leslie