Residential and Land
The story line for the first 3 months of 2010 is the obvious continued spike in sales activity of properties under $300,000. Of the 35 residential sales for the first quarter, 17 were either “bank/seller short sales” or REO (Bank owned Real Estate) for 48% of the sales.
Year over year: First quarter closings amounted to 35 closings, up 29% in the first quarter of 2010 compared to 27 closings in the first quarter of 2009.
Of the 35 sales in the first quarter, 24 sales or 68% closed under $300,000. March showed increased activity in properties over $400,000 with 6 properties closed compared to Janurary and February when 20 of the 24 properties closed under $400,000.
Lower prices on quality building lots are beginning to attract more interest as the supply of desirable existing built product is very scarce – especially in the mid to upper end of the market in the range of $500,000 to $1,500,000. The combination of softer prices for building lots, building materials and labor is making a custom build a more competitive value proposition relative to values of distressed properties.
Another statistic that stands out is the high number (also 35) of pending (sold but not closed) properties as of March 31, 2010. In recent months, pending sales totals have been consistently numbered between 12-15. As of March 31, 20 of the 35 pendings are listed under $200,000.
The market has increasingly absorbed existing inventory as listed single family residence’s total 129 and 63 condo/townhomes for a toal of 192 properties currently for sale. Of the 192 properties for sale, 98, or 51% are listed under $400,000. There are currently 32 “short sale” and 8 REO ( Bank owned) properties for sale for a total of 40 distressed properties or 20% of the total available inventory.
