Here is a tough question
Do the Days on Market statistics really mean anything today?
Just a week ago we received the latest stats for market time in the Valley Center, California, and Escondido, California areas. When I saw that data it looked all wrong...the market times were WAAAAYYY too long...so I did a little detective work on my own....and the REAL STORY was a lot more interesting than the stats put out by the media outlets.
We've all heard the saying, "Garbage In, Garbage Out". If you're not comparing like quantities...all truth goes out the window.
Think of it this way...if you sold four homes last month...two sold in one day and the other two took 100 days to sell....and you averaged that you would get a 50-day average market time...would that number really tell you anything about the market? Probably not!!
So...I did a little in-depth snooping...I live here and know the market in this area...so I took the past six months of sold data for detached homes in the Valley Center and Escondido areas...looked at all homes sold under $400K....which is the majority of the market here...and classified them into "Properly Priced" and "Improperly Priced or Short Sales".
Why does this matter?
We really have two different markets going on here at the same time...if homes are properly priced they sell in days...if they are short-sales or improperly priced they can take months to sell...and these sales are really not representative of the market that most buyers see. I wanted everyone to see what is really happening for the majority of first-time home buyers.
The Pictures tell the whole story
Here are the two charts...look at the Days on Market (DOM) for each area...
Escondido has a much faster-paced market...but even Valley Center shows the same trend...homes that are really "Available for Sale" sell in days...the rest take months....
What this information tells me is we have exceptionally stable markets...huge demand from first time buyers, and record high affordability make buyers compete for the best homes. Our San Diego County area was one of the first to experience the huge price declines...and it looks like we're leading the charge back to a normal market!
If you have any questions about Local Market Statistics in the North San Diego County areas...or even East San Diego County please let me know...I am here to serve you!
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