January is over and the munch anticipated results to our first full months of sales in the new year are in. Sales of exisiting single family homes in Lee County are down 22% from January 2006. Just 641 homes sold in January 2007 and that is some 120% down from the over 1400 that went pending during the heat of the market January 2005. Several factors influnced this continued down turn.
Inventory continues to increase, buyers are still waiting for the all clear, and builders who are sitting on inventory are offering huge discounts and incredible incentives. You can get $100-200K off the original price and a $35,000 furniture package. Resale homes are having a hard time competing with these offerings and that is part of the reason sales continue to fall.
Building permits stayed about the same as in December, about 1/2 of what they were last year. All of the metrics we measure for the market show continued downward price pressure and extended market time.
Comments(0)