National vs Huntsville, Alabama Real Estate Market

Nationally the March sales rate for resale homes dropped 19.3 percent and the median resale home price fell 7.7 percent compared to the same month last year.

The rate of resale home sales dropped 18.8 percent in the Northeast, 22.3 percent in the West, 20 percent in the South and 15.9 percent in the Midwest in March compared to March 2007.

Regionally, the median price last month dropped 14.7 percent in the West, fell 7.1 percent in the South, dropped 5.3 percent in the Midwest and rose 4.6 percent in the Northeast year-over-year.

The supply of all resale homes for sale in March reached a level of 9.9 months, which means that it would take an estimated 9.9 months to sell the entire inventory of for-sale homes at the March sales pace. This supply was up 32 percent compared to March 2007.

Over the last couple of years our local Huntsville Real Estate market has outperformed the national averages consistently. Taking a look at our own MLS statistics for this same month reveals some similarities with the national market but also some significant differences.

Our March sales rate did drop some 27% year over year which is larger than the national 19.3% decline and our Southern Region's 20% decline. However our inventory has not increased as much as the national statistics. Our local 8.74 months of supply at the end of March compares favorably with the National 9.9 month supply.

But most positive is that fact our market's price levels are significantly more stable than either of the National or Southern Regional numbers which both declined ~7%. Taking a look at our March Market Update reveals a conservative 1% appreciation of prices over the last 12 months. Sales prices in our market have stabilized and flatten as many other areas of the country are experiencing significant price weakness. The price weakness we have seen in the last 4-5 months has yet only dampened appreciation rates and has not signaled an entrance into a declining price market. ...Stay tuned.