At the beginning of the year, people were wringing their hands with the sudden influx of homes onto the market, and an apparent lack of buyers. Fears were that there would be another sudden downturn in the market because of overstock, and that the "buyer's market" would force prices lower as sellers were forced to compete with each other. Given the information that we had at the time, and after having survived since 2004, it was not an unreasonable prediction.
Luckily (at least so far) those predictions have not come true, and we are getting ever closer to a "Normal Market"!
Here is a quick run-down:
- Home values are still appreciating between 5% and 15% both month-over-month and annually. The 20% appreciation we saw in 2012 and 2013 is mediating - not crashing.
- The number of foreclosures is down to 2001 levels. Adjusted for the population increase since then, this actually represents a number 21% below 2001 levels
- The monthly supply of homes is near 3 months from nearly 5 months earlier this year
- The number of sales is currently around 5000 fewer that 2012, and about 2500 fewer than last year. Not surprising given that you can't buy a house you can live in for pocket change any more.
- Median sales prices are hovering around the $175,000 range. They were a bit higher at the end of 2013 - inching over $180,000 a couple times, but all-in-all have been stable for the past 9 months.
We shall see what the rest of the summer brings - remembering that summer is a typically slack time in the sales cycle. If housing values remain in their current range, and we have the continual flow of properties onto the market as in the past couple months, we will hopefully have an even finish to the market this year.
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