Rapid City Home Sales Market Report - August 2009

The market in August typically seems to slow some.  I attribute that to the various big events around town (the Sturgis Rally and Central States Fair),  the summertime vacation schedule, and getting ready for school. 

It looks like preowned single family homes were down 9% YTD from 2008, and new construction is way down - 35% YTD from 2008. 

Average sold prices on preowned homes remain pretty stable, with only a 1.4% decrease from 2008. 
Average sold prices in new construction are down 8% from 2008.

Days on market on preowned homes rests 3 days higher (70 to 73), while new construction is up 14.5% at 134 days.  AND - across the board, the number of total residential properties under contract is up 75% - so there are things happening! 

That being said, more deals are falling apart than normal due to various lending, appraisal and other issues.

So my read is about the same - sales are slower than last year, but the home prices remain relatively stable. 


Here are the number of homes sold in Rapid City and surrounding areas by price points this month:

I've developed the following graph to show the selling price points the past 2 months for comparison purposes:


 

I'm putting together a new radio ad to let first time homebuyers looking to cash in on the tax credit not to wait...it's best to get a deal put together by October 15 to make sure we close by the Dec 1 cutoff.

It's gonna be interesting to see how things happen the next few months.  Will we see a wave of buyers trying to jump on the boat at last minute, or is it old news that everyone has kinda turned a deaf ear to?  Time will tell.

I do look forward to a positive future and won't be offended at all with an extension of the tax credit or a new one in 2009.  It has certainly been the driving force in Rapid City home sales.

Moving forward,

- Tristan

Tristan Emond
Prudential Kahler REALTORS
www.rapidhomesonline.com