Glendale Market Report - April, 2007

You know, it's a funny thing.  People that have been "in the business" a while develop a "feel" for "how the market is doing.  And of course brokers are always telling their agents the market is great, even if it's tanking.  Which is right?  Thought you'd never ask.

The truth is, both sides are right.  It's all in your point of view.  Let's look at Glendale's April results and see how that can be:

I measure the overall market with a Market Index, which is composed of key market variables we can measure.  If the Market Index is greater than 1.20, then it's a seller's market.  If it's between 1.20 and 0.80, it's a balanced market.  Below 0.80, it's a buyer's market.  Glendale's Market Index at the end of March was 0.43.  At the end of April it was 0.33, a ten point drop.

Let me show you how it works...there is no "feeling" here, just cold, hard numbers.

Listing going Active during the month of March totaled 126, increasing to 145 in April.  That makes sense, this is spring market, there should be more listings as people prepare to move during the summer.

The listings that went into escrow are Pendings, in March we had 58, in April 52, so we had More listings but Fewer go into escrow.

The Pending RATIO decreased from 46% to 36%, a ten point drop, but percentage-wise over 21%.  That would seem to indicate the market is slowing down.

The Total Active Listings in March equaled 321, in April 369, an increase of 15% or 48 additional listings.  That makes sense because fewer are going into escrow, so the inventory is going to increase.

SOLD listing during the month of March totaled 81, in April only 68, a 16% drop in listings sold.  Again, that makes sense, fewer listings going into escrow means fewer close, so fewer homes actually sell.

The Days On Market (DOM) to sell those listings were 49 in March, compared to 68 in April.  Truthfully, taking into account re-listed properties the true numbers are probably 30-40% higher, so 65 in March and 85 in April is probably more accurate.  There is more inventory, so it takes more time for buyers to decide what properties to see (and maybe if we wait the prices will go down).

So, if all these facts are correct, how could a home sell in FOUR days last week?  Homes properly priced, prepared, and marketed correctly will still attract the right buyer.  Sometimes "the numbers don't matter", particularly when we recall that buying a home is an emotional decision. 

If you have questions you can email me keith@beautifulglendalehomes.com.

Have a great day!

Data collected from iTech and Southwest Regional MLS systems is deemed reliable but has not been verified and is not guaranteed.