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OK, would everybody PLEASE put your duplexes on the market?
Call me crazy, but I have a long list of buyers and, believe it or not, there’s not enough good duplexes out there for them to chose from.
Now before you accuse me of having lost my marbles, the market data for the week ending August 28, 2010, backs me up. That week alone, the amount of new inventory that became available for sale was down 46 percent from the year before.
Of those new listings, 58 percent were offered by traditional sellers, compared to just 35 percent for the same week in 2009.
Pended sales were down too, though at a 10 percent decline, not as dramatically. Of those property owners who accepted purchase agreements, just 7.4 percent did so without a lender involved in the negotiations. Last year for the week, 13.33 percent of the sellers could say the same.
Perhaps the decline in inventory contributed to the higher average off market list price for duplexes of $121,264.81; which is significantly above last year’s sold price of $86,228. Of course, the list price and sold price are rarely one in the same these days, so the gain may not be as significant as it first appears.
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There was a lot of news in the housing sector this week.
First came the report that existing single family home sales, declined 2.7 percent in August from their July mark. While this drop of 140,000 units was disappointing, sales for the month were nonetheless 3.4 percent above their August 2008, mark.
This was the first setback in four months, during which sales rose a total of 15.2 percent.
A survey conducted by the National Association of Realtors reveals first-time home buyers purchased 30 percent of the homes sold in August, and 31 percent of all transactions were for lender-mediated properties.
Of course, these distressed properties tend to warp the median price of existing homes. Selling for 15 to 20 percent less than those marketed by traditional sellers, the foreclosures helped force the national median existing home price down 12.5 percent to $177,700.
New construction accounted for 6.7 percent of the total homes for sale. In other words, traditional homes account for the remaining 93.3 percent.
The one bit of good news is the amount of inventory for both has dropped significantly.
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Was it really that long ago that “The Secret” was a national phenomenon?
You remember “The Secret”; the runaway best-seller DVD and book which purported to share a long-hidden truth to personal wealth and happiness.
Which was?
The “Law of Attraction”. In its essence, the premise was whatever we think about in life, both consciously and unconsciously, is what we get.
I was reminded of this while reading a number of media stories over the weekend. Among all the headlines of doom and gloom I saw ”Home Listings for February Stayed Steady” in the Wall Street Journal. The story included data from a survey conducted by ZipRealtyInc.. Inventory in the 29 major metropolitan areas covered was down 0.4% from January. More significantly, however, when compared with February 2008, listings were down 14%.
In USA Today I read “Most Foreclosures Pack Into A Few Counties”. The story began by stating, “More than half of the nation’s foreclosures last year took place in 35 counties, a sign the financial crisis devastating the national economy may have begun with collapsing home loans in only a few corners of the country.” Read the rest of this entry »
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I guess everybody realized there’s a clearance sale down at the duplex and house mall,s as MAAR reports another big leap in pending sales activity over last year. Sales jumped 26.8 percent from the same week last year. This data was for the week ending August 23, which was the third week in a row with an increase in pending sales over last year.
What’s interesting is there are actually fewer homes on the market to choose from. The number of homes for sale in the Twin Cities market is actually 24.2 percent decrease from this time last year.
Buyers continue to clear the shelves of duplex inventory as well. Sales were up 363.36 percent over the same period last year. In all, 40 duplexes received and accepted purchase agreements last week in the metro market. Of these, 95 percent were either bank owned or short sale properties. Last year’s sales were comprised of 42.8 percent lender-involved units.
