Hey!  Where have YOU been? =)  Our market average in the Charlotte metro area is 98% right now.  Personally, I think that it's so tight here and in so many places because buyers are the most educated they've ever been.  By the time they walk in the door of a properly priced and staged listing, they already know what it's worth.

Folks around here, the lucky ones who manage to sell, are getting from 90-95% of the asking price, which, of course is why there are a dearth of transactions. 

Sellers will not come down and buyer won't pay the prices.

Leigh: it seems like your area really is 'tight', if I get your meaning. 98 percent would be highly coveted here now.

Lenn: I think even though the price points are completely different in our areas the thinking is the same!

Hello CCC, the Salt Lake City market is still pretty strong seeing 97-100%. Below $300k many are still seeing multiple offers the 1st week.

Across the board the average list/sale ratio is 97% in Denver metro.  Douglas county to the south it is 98%. Interesting the stats in Boulder (for the Denver listings) are 96%.  Boulder has it's own MLS but many agents are members of both.  I don't know it the Denver stats match those of Boulder's own.

These year to date stats show to the public the homes that are selling are priced right.  We still have  27,858 homes on the market (-4.09% than same time last year).

Our average price is $322,510. The absorption rate is 27.44 weeks. 

Keith, I appreciate the info; I think the NE Ohio market is a bit strained!

Kristal, we would also love your absorption rate. In the four areas of Cleveland proper I market the most,  one fourth of the total number of homes on the market sell.

I have an idea! Utah and Colorado investors! Good prices here! lol

We are in the 96-98% range here in Eastern CT but I think those statistics are often skewed due to properties being re-listed etc.

Linda, I had not even thought of that, I just took the stats from our multiple listing service. Well so far NE Ohio is the only one with a significant change :-(   Not that i am wishing decreases for anyone!

Hi Carole,

In 07 we have a 2.6% discount from list price. Last year 4th-Q it was 2.8%.

Days on market is down from 149  to 131 (-12%)

Mitchell I knew your NYC stats would be good - see I'm still all alone here lol.  Our days on market are 90 ish. That is not bad for our area lol. 

Interesting stats, Carole. I track about 10 communities here and have for about 18 months. Last 4 months has been pretty consistent, ranging from 93% of asking to 98%. Most are 95-96% on average. An occasional dip lower in certain communities. DOM averaging 60 - 80 days except in one very high end community, over 100.

Jeff

Hi Jeff! That sounds about normal, meaning high end homes on the market longer; however, 100 days would be a dream for high end homes here lol.  And it makes me feel better that your numbers are closer to mine lol

Linda makes agood point. our stats only go by the last listing price. 90 days is not bad at all.

Mitchell,  Im pretty sure our stats are for the last listing price as well. And that would also affect the DOM lol  Oh well. I just hope all potential sellers see this (in my area) and realize they need to price it lower than they could have two years ago...which of course we have been telling them here for two years!

Carole, I deal with a lot of first tme homebuyers, so I don't know if that makes a difference or not.  But the Loans that I have been doing have been mostly around 3% to 5% of the asking price, and if the Seller is paying the Closing Costs, those Loans are usually for 100% of the asking price.

3C, Pueblo sells between 97% and 95% of asking price, similar to Denver. However, our average dollar $135,000 in Pueblo West, and $129000 in Pueblo.

Carole - this is really interesting information.  I tried to do the same study in Miami Shores and found that the discrepancies in pricing is so huge I cannot do the numbers.  There are still a lot of people overpricing their homes, these usually sit on the market longer and end up selling at about the same average per square foot - it's good to keep those statistics in mind, especially when you are pricing to sell.

Well it doesn't look like the market is as bad as the media is saying for your areas.

Carole,

Thanks for the information. Since Ohio is a large feeder market for the Hilton Head area, I found your post very interesting. 

So Dena your stats are pretty stable ?  Ask prices closer to my area! lol

Ines hi, if I had to do this figuring on my own it would be almost impossible too. I'm glad our MLS system does it.  All I have to do is plug in the dates and areas. I did 31 areas because I wanted to see if it was just a few places experiencing a change. 

In my neck of the woods we are seeing about 95-98% for under 200K. Anything over 200K it is running between 93-95%. The most productive price range in my location right now is between 135-185K. It's been like that now for about 10 months.

Without looking up the recent stats...I will say in AZ it varies.  Some sellers are living in the past and refuse to lower their prices - a requirement for a sale to occur in this market.  I will say that 5% off is not unheard of in many cases...

Sorry for some reason some of you were  commenting as I was lol. 

Tina: we never really experienced a huge bubble effect here; so I think that is helping homes to sell; but for sure, many of the listings wind up getting pulled off market. I tell people to sell if they have a good reason and if they are just testing the waters, hold off please! Not the best time to do that.

Diane, you are quite welcome. I remember taking tennis lessons at Hilton Head a few decades ago. I love the clay courts! great area.

Maureen I looked up where you are from... I am glad there are some reasonably priced homes in Massachusetts!

Hi Kaushik: some of the communities I mentioned above were at 89 percent or so; I think those communities might have Sellers still expecting 2005 prices.  It's always fascinating to see the stats.

Nice tool from your MLS Carole!

Thanks for the info, Carole.  Here in Northern Michigan, we are averaging in the low 90's.  Definitely a buyer's market!

Carole - When you figure this, are you using original list price, or list price at the time the offer is received? And for selling price, do you deduct any seller contributions? (You have to remember I'm a highly analytical guy!)

Yes Ines, I think our MLS has been fairly responsive in giving us useful tools!

Stefan, I think our areas are kindred spirits :-) 

Hi John nice to see you! The sale price stays, in perpetuity, at the amount added on for seller give backs; the mortgage winds up being based on that price. So that is not deducted. And I think the last list price is the one used.  Otherwise how do you go back and figure it all? The last ask price is really what the seller is asking, even if he/she was asking more previously lol.  I can send you the 31 community results though and you can get out your calculator :-) 

I look at it like this, as long as the parameters stay the same, its a good benchmark.

George I just saw your comment in my email but I missed it on here I am so sorry! Your comment makes me think about other factors at play as well. For example, lending issues and short sale issues could play a part in the larger percentage difference...enough to change it from our usual, stable, 3 percent. But I don't have any facts to back that up...  I am going to raise this issue at our next meeting.

Carole:

The most recent statistics published (5/10/07) by the local MLS for April 2007 states.

The average sales price as a percentage fo the average list price in Montgomery County Maryland was 96.54 %, whicle in 2006 for April it was 97.48%.  The same report say the average list price of those sold was up 5.26% over last year and the average days on the market was up 69.39% (83 days vs 49 in 2007). 

Carole

There are a couple of key perforance statistics of which you should be aware.  If some of this is a little "out there" feel free to contact me off list.

There are three primary perspectives for your business:  You, Your Competition, and The World.  Let me explain:  with most measures, there is statistic for you as an agent, your company and the market as a whole.  Your ability to use these statistics will determine your effectiveness as a marketer in your market.

Example.  List price to sale price ratio (the subject of your post):

Referring to a common time frame (say the last year);

1.  What is the MLS average of LP to SP ratio?

2.  What is your companies ratio?

3.   What is YOUR ratio?

When you are representing either buyer or seller this is agreat tool to show how you can either negotiate or price it right.

I was competing against two other agents.  I ran their stats in the mls.  The MLS was 97.1% of list price,  the first agents is 98.5% LP/SP, the #2 was 98.7%, I was 100.5%...and I didn't get the listing.

Shame on me?  Maybe...maybe I did not do a good enough job qualifying before the appointment. Maybe it would not have mattered WHAT I said or did.

 Know your stats, and those of your compeititors.

Thanks Robert, and it sounds like sellers are still (possibly) looking for increases each year in their investment instead of a slight downturn lol. 

Keith yes of course I understand what you are saying. And I thank you for stopping by. I tend not to say any of my competitors are doing poorly lol.  But I do agree with you, knowing the stats arms me with confidence to explain to homeowners why prices need to be at market value and not where we may all wish they would be.

Carole-I report a lot on the market trends in Hawaii and have noticed that we are still in the high 90's in virtually every different category.  I have not seen anything in the 80's.  Aloha!

Hi Carole,

I found your post and the ensuing comments to be fascinating!  I love statistics because they help to put a finger on what works and what doesn't.

It was also interesting to hear that many sellers are being stubborn and holding on to the belief that their house is worth so much more than it actually is IN THIS MARKET.  I've suspected that this was the case for some time now. 

Thanks for sharing!

VAL

Carole: Down the road here .... most of the comps I'm running for buyers are showing the 94-96% range, HOWEVER, that's against the most recent list price. It gets closer to 90% if calculated against the original price - and 2-3 agents ago!

In my farm area, there's a definite difference by comparing against agents - those that continuously overprice in order to buy the listing. My average is 98-99%, while the average for the other agents is 90%. As I tell my clients ... it's because I'M GOOD! ;-)   Plus, I won't waste my time or money on an overpriced listing - I'm willing to walk away.

From what I've gathered sellers are getting between 91 to 97 of their asking price....but that isn't figuring in an price reductions along the way.

David, thanks. I would have guessed that Hawaii is a pretty stable and successful market. It does not get any more beautiful than Hawaii! I'm going to do some reading on your site later today to see market stats.

Robert: I find that statistic interesting and I never would have thought that they were still rising in Maryland.

Elaine, hi.  It is funny how we get to know listing agents who tend to go along with pricing too high on a regular basis. And your average is very good! Because you are not the average agent :-) I hear you about walking away...we have done that twice in the last two weeks.

Val, thank you. I always smile though when they say statistics don't lie. Well we all know the story of two people coming up with different conclusions from the same stats lol.  But I agree with you, they give me a good anchor point.

Christy, I m still looking at it like this....I pondered after some of the comments yesterday (and comments are again more fascinating to me than my original posts lol).

I see the final ask price as the one that matters anyway. Truly. Arguable, a good appraiser is not going to allow a home to sell at a price too high compared to other home sales so that takes care of the ones who add on 3% or so onto the sale price. And the sellers who have a few reductions were in most cases, not at the current market value before the reductions. Since we all have to start somewhere I think I am happy with using this as the constant in the equation.

Carole, are any of you realtors pegging the transaction to the original sale price, indexed at a certain rate over time, relative to the asking price, and that relative to the selling price? That's about the only way I know to measure where the markets are. When you quote merely shoot-from-the-hip asking prices from the MLS, pegged to the current local market (I understand they're based on comparables, but in a declining market, comparables decline relative to the original sales price) and then relate that to the sales price, if they sell at all, it's not a very comprehensive snapshot of the asset. You guys are treating one of peoples' biggest investments more as a commodity than as an equity-based asset.

People's biggest assets Tim, is very correct.  The snapshot as you say is accurate as to selling prices and the asking price existing when the house sold.

I respectfully disagree that we are treating this as a commodity. We are looking at what homes are selling for and basically asking sellers to give serious thought to how they price their homes. That is what I see from all of this. And I also think it points out the need for people to truly keep up this 'biggest asset' so that it holds it's investment.

The somewhat discouraging aspect is the price points in our area, Tim. They have declined. If we used the figures as you suggest (and to do that I am not sure you realize how many weeks of study that would take) the sale price to asking price ratio in our Cleveland market would be even smaller.  That is my guess.

One of the things I do intend to do in a post later this week is to compare all the figures to last years results for the first quarter.

With over 13,000 homes sold so far this year, I would not be able to do that kind of work unless our Listing Service (MLS) provided it in that way.

You will notice that people in their comments from other areas are finding different results than the ones we have in Cleveland. As they say, real estate is local. One of the reasons I love this forum, AR, is the ability to compare what is happening around the Country. I believe our discourse here helps us do our jobs better for consumers like you, Tim. And I truly appreciate your stopping by.

Carole those are all factors, because not every sale is a nice clean sale, and the ability to put money down seems to play a big factor form what I have seen.  The more you have to put down, the better position that Buyers seems to be around here when it comes to negotiating the price.

Hi George, I love the First Time HBers, like I know you do.  Nothing more gratifying is there. I've noticed  a bit more fiscal stability on my last two FTH Buyers; they are providing money down. But you are so right, if  you tack on 6% (Downpayment and closing costs) to the ask price of a house, you better be sure that house will appraise at that price. Does this put the kabash on very many loans for you?  Just curious, it has only happened to one of my clients once, and that was most certainly because the home was originally priced too high for the market anyway....if I recall, 3k over the last sale price and there was only one home at that price! Most were a lot less. So I wondered how frequently this happens to you.

Am I wrong in thinking, if a house sells at 130k, even if 3% of that is the buyers closing cost, and it appraises, doesn't that add to the neighborhoods market value? What do the rest of you think....unless of course everyone else is out enjoying the beautiful Mother's Day Weather. LOL

Carole, on your first question that has not been an issue for me, but that is maybe because I work with some very good Realtors who do their homework and have a good idea already if the house will appraise or not with the Seller Paid Costs added.  And on your second question, yep, the 3% Seller Paid Costs are going to inflate the Selling Price and therefore the Comps in the area as well.

Hummm, AR just duplicated this response three time. 

Thanks George, and I certainly know the value of making sure sellers are realistic, even if on the high end of an asking price.  It has to be within the market value or we won't take the listing either. Just like the good agents you work with !

Carole, great post. I love seeing stats from other areas. It's nice to have a measuring stick to use on your own market. Around here, we average 97-98% of asking price. Things haven't slowed down much here, although we are seeing more low-ball offers than usual and they're just being rejected.

Thanks Ryan and I'm glad to see the Oklahoma market is so strong for your consumers.