Market Report, Glendale, CA October, 2007

The leaves are falling from my maple tree, mirroring the sales activity in Glendale.  If you are a buyer, pay attention...actually, if you are a seller, you should too!

Back in June, at the peak of the spring sales season, we had a market index of 0.26 with 442 active listings, selling 62.  Fast forward to October,  a market index of 0.15, 496 listings active, and 45 sold.  Not a huge change just looking those numbers, but all put together, an index of 0.15 means buyers are really in control.

Although not the end of the world as we know (according to some media outlets), the gradual accumulation of listing inventory coupled with the increasingly restrictive lending requirement has created a perfect storm.  As inventory levels increase, the number of qualified buyers has decreased, so when supply goes up, demand goes down, what happen to prices? 

What would you guess the median price is if October our median price was $670,000?  And, more importantly, how accurate a factor is median price?  As the number of sales declines, there is some speculation that median price from a small number of sales may not accurately reflect changing home values.  The median price of October 2007 is $546,250, that's a $134,000 drop.  Ouch!

Here is another way to look at it.  The average home sold in October is a three bed, two bath.  The AVERAGE selling price in 2006 was $735,679, in 2007 it was $601,317, roughly the same change, about $134,000

So what to do?  Will the market go down further?  My crystal ball is a little foggy.  It might.  It might not.  So for buyers, if you have to buy, negotiate the best price and then buy if you believe you have the best deal you can negotiate.  Sellers, this is a buyer's market.  Buyers are looking for value, so your REALTOR® should help you prepare your home to show its value to buyers.

Data is deemed reliable, however is not guaranteed, has not been verified, and is subject to change.  Itech MLS>