Boy, winter made an early appearance! We've seen about 20" of snow so far this year and we're expecting 3" more by tomorrow. I guess it's a good thing that I enjoy winter outdoor activities. As you may guess, this weather certainly has an adverse influence on our real estate activity. No one is all that interested in looking at houses in this weather. Think of how challenging it is to view vacant properties when it's below 0 - most sidewalks and driveways haven't been shoveled and even getting the key from the lockbox is enough to freeze the fingers. Brrr!
2010 was a challenging year in our area and we're hoping for better activity and results in 2011. Here are the stats for our 2010 market:
We currently have 165 homes on the market (down quite a bit) and the average list price is $173,217. Those houses have been on the market for an average of 180 days. YTD we've had 256 homes sell in an average of 118 days (steady throughout the year) at an average sale price of $129,813 (down 8.3% from 2009). The average sale price is 96.5% of the last list price and 90.31% of the original list price.
From 2009 to 2010 we've seen the number of sales decline by 18.5%, the sales volume decreased by 26.5% and the median sale prices dropped by 8.3%. Our sale prices are currently on par with 2001/2002 prices, except our sales volume is much lower.
Jobs and consumer confidence will be vital to the rebuilding and stability of our market. Our community has continued to grow during the past 10 years and yet sales have fallen steadily since 2005. Unfortunately, our real estate market looks like a perfect bell curve of activity and volume since 2000.
As challenging as this has been for all the players in our real estate world, there are opportunities for buyers and investors. The interest rates provide a bright spot, as do home prices. Inventory levels have dropped in the last couple of months and we expect to see the levels increasing after the first of the year, so there are plenty of wonderful homes and values for buyers to choose from.
We maintain a positive outlook and expect improvements in 2011 - we'll do our best to make it a good one!
Lynn Johnson, CRS, GRI, MBA
Owatonna Real Estate Pros
Coldwell Banker Home Connection
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