2011 was the Year of the Foreclosure.
Foreclosure sales comprised almost a third of all single-family home sales in Spanish Fort, Daphne and Fairhope. This segment of the market expanded from 14% of sales in 2009; to 25% in 2010; to 31% in 2011.
Yet at any given time only 10-15% of homes listed on the Eastern Shore of the Mobile, Ala., metro market are foreclosures or short sales.
In a nutshell, buyers have been foreclosure crazy, and who can blame them? Some properties are in deplorable shape, yet others are better than many an owner-occupied home.
The foreclosure – and to a lesser degree the short sold homes – put a serious drag on the average sales price, which fell 7.5% from $228,658 in 2010 to $211,455. Since the start of the housing crisis locally, average home prices have slid 29.5%.
To dig deeper, foreclosures sell at a price per square foot that’s 33% lower than non-foreclosed homes. But they cannot be ignored as a comparable sold in either pricing or appraising a home.
When will it end? Unknown.
BUT!!!
The good news is the number of homes sold increased 14% over 2010 and inventory has declined. In 2010, 948 homes sold, while in 2011, 1,099 sold.
We learned the importance of home sales – even at depressed prices -- to this economy during The Great Recession (not to mention the two or so years after it was supposedly over). Home sales generate income for lenders, home inspectors, insurance agents, builders and handymen, building suppliers and even the lowly real estate agent.
On to the numbers:
For all of 2011 in Spanish Fort, Daphne and Fairhope, there were 1,099 sales with an average price of $211,455 compared to 948 sales in 2010 with an average price of $228,658. On average, sellers took 5% off their list price in order to sell. The time it took to sell averaged 174 days.
The 4th quarter of 2011 was a good one with 243 sales compared to 314 in the 3rd quarter and 213 this time last year. The average sales price was $190,381, compared with $234,490 last year and $211,477 in the 3rd quarter.
Spanish Fort: 165 homes sold in 2011 vs 155 in 2010. Average sale price remained little changed at $255,589 compared to $257,665 in 2010. Sellers took almost 5% off their prices in order to sell. Market time increased from 159 days in 2010 to 164 days in 2011.
In the 4th quarter: 38 homes sold, down from 45 the previous quarter.Average sales price dropped from $298,117 to $230,811. Sellers took about 5.5% off their prices in order to sell. Average days on market: 149.
Daphne: 494 homes sold compared to 446 sales in 2010. Average sales price dropped from $197,794 to $178,478 in 2010. Sellers settled for 4% less than list price. Market time was largely unchanged from 161 days in 2010 to 159 days last year.
In the 4th quarter, 118 homes sold, down from 136 sales in the 3rd quarter. Average price was $164,651, compared to $166,085 in the 3rd quarter. Sellers got 94.7% of their sales price and market time again was little changed at 161 days.
Fairhope: 440 homes sold, compared with 347 in 2010. Average sales price fell from $255,370 in 2010 to $231,928 in 2011. Sellers settled for 6% less than the asking price. Average market time: 194 days.
In the 4th quarter, 87 homes sold, compared to 133 sales in the 3rd quarter. Average selling price was $207,620, compared with $211,477 in the 3rd quarter. Sellers took 6.5% off the price in order to sell. Market time: 174 days.
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