****Drumroll Please*****

I know I gave you all that great teaser yesterday saying I was prepared to maybe to call the bottom of this housing market in Cranford NJ and tell you that sales activity might indicate that we were starting to pull away from the slower pace of the past 2 years. Well...unfortunately the data doesn't indicate a movement upward in sales activity, but the good news is that there was not a movement down in sales activity either, which could mean we are surfing around on the bottom part of the housing cycle, ready to make a move upwards in activity.

If history is a guide, corrections usually last in the neighborhood of 3 years, and we are approaching that 3 year mark here in this area. So, I would tend to believe that we may start to see some motion to the upside in pending sales, and a downward trend in inventory. That second part did occur in January 2008 in Cranford. We had a total of 89 active listings in the month of January that is down from 92 a year ago in 2007. We had 13 homes go under contract in January 2008, which is down from 16 in 2007. So comparing apples to apples, we are flatlined from a year ago.

Here are the raw numbers for January 2008 in Cranford NJ Real Estate

Here is the Updated Pending Sales Commentary

Number of Closed Sales: 10 (this includes those that went under contract before January)

Number of Listings that Went Under Contract 13

Average Sales Price: $379,740

Average Days on Market of Sold Homes: 87

List to Sale Price Ratio: 95%

Number of New Listings: 36

Current Months of Inventory: 5.92 (this is a big deal, because it's under 6 months, which is a very...very slight tilt towards a sellers market, or demand driven market. If this goes down more next month, I will feel more confident saying we are trending towards price increases. Not yet, however.)

So There you have it. I hope this was informative, and look for my Westfield and Scotch Plains/Fanwood version before too long.

Check back often for more updates. With interest rates so low, and many sellers not re-listing their expireds from last year, we may start to see some more of this inventory sell off, which is good news for sellers, and motivation for buyers to LOCK IN now while rates are low, and supply is higher.

No matter what the market does, my job doesn't change...SERVING YOU, the client, and representing your best interests. Part of that responsibility is to know our market, and give you solid advice on what you need to do to accomplish your goals, regardless of whether it's a buyers market, sellers market, or neutral market. Happy House Hunting!

Sean Carroll - Realtor, Team Leader

"Team Carroll" - Cranford, Westfield and Scotch Plains/Fanwood Real Estate Professionals

www.TheCarrollConnection.com