Latest Market Statistics for Local Main Line, PA

For the 30 days ending August 8, 2011 in the 3 nearest townships, there were 68 single family and twin homes that settled at an average price of $653,674. This is a bit of an increase from last month’s numbers.  June and July are always busy months for closings, so it is likely the trend will not continue. We can hope for a strong fall market but that might be too optimistic.

The average discount off the original asking price improved just a percentage point this month to 91%.  We have stayed above 90% for most of the last year.  The Main Line area has weathered the downturn so much better than the news reports indicate. It is notable that last month, 27 homes, or 34%, sold for over 95% of asking price, with 8 going for 100% or more of the last-listed price.  Fifteen more homes sold for 90-94.5%.  Averages being what they are, there were 3 houses that went for less than 80% of the last-listed price, and that affected the result.

On the disappointing side, the number of sellers giving concessions to buyers (cash at closing, for example) continued to be noteworthy last month, with more than a few at significant amounts.  (These concessions are taken into consideration in calculating the “discount off asking” numbers.)  About 26 sellers gave money back last month, similar to the month prior.  The average was $7,669.

Of the 68 homes, 12 sold in less than 10 days. Another good sign is that the average time on the market of 68 days, which is down significantly from the 91 we saw last month. As seen in the chart below of the larger metropolitan area, the days on the market statistics in all three counties continues have improved so that most homes are selling in the 0- 30 day bracket, rather than the 90+ bracket we had seen previously.

This chart gives a broader view of all residential home sales (including townhouses and condos) in the 3 surrounding counties for June (it runs a month behind) compared to a year ago.  Discounts off asking prices numbers have remained in the low 90’s now in all three counties for a few months.  The number of sales continues to be very low compared to last year----particularly in Montgomery County.

Inventory Accumulation continues to point to a buyer’s market in our area—even improving for buyers over the last few months. This statistic runs a month behind the other data on the chart, so these numbers may change with the large numbers of closings in the last month.