Well we are in the throws of a crazy spring as the tax credit eligibility ends here in just a couple of weeks. As such buyers have been out much earlier than usual trying to take advantage of the tax credit. So what did this dynamic do for our local Salem Oregon real estate market?
The median and average home prices are still dropping, but for now, the rate of descent has slowed. The average home price was down just a mere .20% from March of 2009, and the median home price was down 4.7% as foreclosures are coming on the market at competitive prices. I had talked last month about the crazy high spike in inventory due to sellers putting their homes on the market much earlier than normal. The inventory has dropped as expected, and while still crazy high, is at 15.3 months right now. I fully expect this number to continue to go down as buyers start to soak up the inventory and close by the end of June for the credit.
Home sales ticked up this March compared to last year. Sales volume has been up for several months, which is one factor that indicates we are slowing the descent and edging closer to the bottom of the market. This doesn’t mean we have a healthy, normal market by any means, but we are showing signs of nearning that desired “bottom.” Like I said before, I’m not willing to call a bottom until I see what the market does without the tax credit and the consequences of the Fed discontinuing buying mortgage backed securities March 31. This summer and fall should tell us whether or not we are really starting to scrape along the bottom of our price drops here in Salem.
Data was crunched from the WVMLS.
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