October 2009 was an extremely active month, the most active for sales in the last 2 years! We sold 135 homes in Humboldt County, but only saw 194 New Listings come on the market. This continues the trend of a tightening inventory. In September, we had 13 months of inventory (13.48). October had 10.13 months of inventory. This is a reversal of last year's trend of increasing inventory:
2008
Month/New Listings/Total Listings/Sales/Months of Inventory*
| Dec/2008 | 181 | 1,441 | 79 | 18.24 |
| Nov/2008 | 141 | 1,511 | 86 | 17.57 |
| Oct/2008 | 214 | 1,585 | 105 | 15.10 |
On the other side affordability continues to rise and stands 24% for the month of October*
| Jan-09 | $275,000 | 5.21% | $41,138 | $1,505.03 | $60,201 | 44% | 21% |
| Feb-09 | $266,500 | 5.12% | $41,233 | $1,446.68 | $57,867 | 42% | 23% |
| Mar-09 | $264,950 | 5.14% | $41,328 | $1,440.87 | $57,635 | 42% | 23% |
| Apr-09 | $274,900 | 4.96% | $41,423 | $1470.73 | $58,829 | 43% | 22% |
| May-09 | $285,000 | 4.95% | $41,518 | $1,523.37 | $60,935 | 44% | 21% |
| June-09 | $255,000 | 5.16% | $41,613 | $1,389.28 | $55,571 | 40% | 25% |
| July-09 | $275,000 | 5.34% | $41,709 | $1,522.77 | $60,911 | 44% | 21% |
| August-09 | $259,000 | 5.33% | $41,805 | $1,432.88 | $57,315 | 41% | 23% |
| September-09 | $267,500 | 5.24% | $41,901 | $1,467.95 | $58,718 | 42% | 22% |
| October-09 | $262,250 | 5.10% | $41,998 | $1,421.03 | $56,841 | 42% | 24% |
I believe that as prices stabilize, more and more people will jump into the market. This will cause futher tightening of inventory, but may not push prices higher. Look for the extenstion and expansion of the tax credit.
For more information feel free to call me, Andy Parker (707) 616-3456 or email at andy@azalearealty.com
* Source: Humboldt Multiple Listing Service
**Source: HUmboldt Association of Realtors
Comments(0)