October 2008 statistics have been compiled. The first thing I noticed is the number of homes on the market is 2031, down from last month by nearly 200 and down about 430 from July 2008. Of these active listings, about 200 are short sales or bank owned properties and 41 of them are listed at $200,000 or below. In fact, I have some buyers at this price point and it's very difficult to find a home for them that's NOT a short sale or bank owned. Short sales can be great deals but purchasing a home through this process can take months and you have to purchase the property AS-IS. It's too overwhelming for these first time buyers.
Of the 66 contingent properties, 36 are short sales. In other words, these sellers have received offers but are waiting for approval from their lender. 13 of the 134 pending properties are short sales or bank owned and 15 of the 122 sales last month were short sales or bank owned.
I ran some historical numbers on the luxury home market and was surprised by the results. The market for homes over $1million seems very slow to me with only 3 sales and 2 homes pending over $1million last month. Back in October 2005, only 2 homes over $1mil sold and in October 2006 only 4. Based on those figures, the high end market is doing alright. Truthfully, with prices coming down as much as they have, many of the homes that were priced over $1million are now priced much lower so I probably should revise my definition of the luxury market to include homes priced at $700,000 and above. Including those homes, there were 9 sales last month. In October 2005 there were 12 sales over $700,000 and in October 2006 there were 9. I was surprised to discover that.
You can view the complete statistics here: October 2008 Real Estate Statistics
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