Click here to view or print the entire March report compliments of the ACRE Corporate Cabinet.
Sales: Lee County area residential sales totaled 131 units in March, a significant increase in sales growth of 29.7 percent or 30 units above the same period last year. This represents the best sales results for the month of March since 2007. Year-to-date sales through March are up 41.2 percent from 2014.
Forecast: March sales were 9 units or 7.4 percent above our monthly forecast. ACRE's year-to-date sales forecast through March projected 269 closed transactions while the actual sales were 319 units, a favorable cumulative variance of 18.6 percent.
Lee County residential sales increase 30% in March from last year. Housing Inventory has been favorably reduced by 44% from the March 2011 peak. Infograph courtesy of ACRE. All rights reserved. Supply: The Lee County housing inventory in March was 816 units, a decrease of 6.6 percent from March 2014 and 43.9 percent from the month of March inventory peak in 2011 (1,455 units).
March inventory in Lee County also decreased 1.4 percent from the prior month. This direction is consistent with historical data indicating that March inventory on average ('10-'14) decreases from the month of February by 5.7 percent.
The inventory-to-sales ratio in March was 6.2 months of housing supply. Restated, at the March sales pace, it would take 6.2 months to absorb the current inventory for sale. The market equilibrium (balance between supply and demand) is considered to be approximately 7.5+/- months (non-seasonally adjusted) during the month of March. Lee County continues to be one of Alabama's most balanced markets where buyer and seller have equal bargaining power.
Demand: March residential sales also increased by 7.4 percent from the prior month. This direction is consistent with seasonal buying patterns and historical data indicating that March sales on average ('10-'14) increase by 20.9 percent from the month of February. Existing single family home sales account for 49 percent (down from 54% in Mar'14) of total sales while 30 percent (up from 23% in Mar'14) were new home sales and 21 percent (down from 23% in Mar'14) were condo buyers.
Pricing: The Lee County median sales price in March was $180,000, a 14.6 percent increase from last March. The March median sales price also increased 8.7 percent compared to the prior month. This direction favorably contrast with historical data ('10-'14) indicating that the March median sales price on average decreases from the month of February by 1.2 percent. Pricing can fluctuate from month-to-month as the sample size of data (closed transactions) is subject to seasonal buying patterns so a broader lens as to pricing trends is appropriate and we recommend contacting a local real estate professional for additional market pricing information.
Industry Perspective: "Consumers are being patient prior to entering the housing market. Our March survey results emphasize how critical attitudes about income growth are to consumers' outlook on housing," said Doug Duncan, senior vice president and chief economist at Fannie Mae. "We've seen modest improvement in total compensation resulting from a strengthened labor market. However, income growth perceptions and personal financial expectations both eased off of recent highs, consistent with Friday's weak jobs report. Simultaneously, the share of consumers expecting to buy on their next move has declined. We believe the recent setback in consumer sentiment should be short lived if early signs of income growth bear out and occur in proportion to expected interest rate increases. Meanwhile, the wait for housing expansion continues." For full report, go HERE.
2014 Summary Recap - Sales Up 8%
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