NOVEMBER - 2008
It has always been difficult to say exactly what a "healthy" real estate market should look like.Prices and inventory seem to set the theme and "location, location, location" is not always the final judgment of health or desirability.
In the "good days", in the Asheville area, a "normal" real estate market was estimated to be when the housing inventory of homes for sale should be somewhere around 6 to 7 months supply. Asheville and Buncombe County are continuing to hold steady at about 15 months supply, on average.
This is the normal slow-down time of year and inventory is normally reduced because some sellers do not want to have lookers go through the house in winter weather or during the holidays.
In Asheville, we are continuing to see a slow, but small, reduction in home prices, as the inventory sits at the top of recent high numbers, although the inventory has begun to reduce due to the normally slower time of year.
There has been an increase in the number of properties offered under the "short sale" concept, which is where the mortgage holder agrees to let the owner attempt to sell the house for less than what is owed, so as to prevent a foreclosure.
The real area of concern continues to be about the homes over $400,000. The worrisome market is the homes at or over $1 million. The number of sales per month compared to the existing inventory suggests a rather long term for that inventory to either shrink or see prices drop by large percentages.
Sales of homes under $285,000 seem to be stable with only a small excess in inventory. This would indicate that the "average" buyer has plenty of homes to choose from and most of them are at fair market value.
The question is....where are the buyers? It looks like September, October and November are going to be the worst months this year for unit sales.
Residential Properties = Single Family Homes, Condos, Townhouses & Mobiles on Owned Land
Copyright by Don Davies©
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