2008 Home Sales: How is Sugar Creek REALLY Doing?
An old adage is that real estate markets are as local as the weather. We know from all of the hype that the national market is stormy and it's impacting the entire economy. Freddie Mac & Fannie Mae are troubled and being bailed out by Uncle Sam. Realtors are notoriously upbeat and it's hard to really know what's happening. What can you believe?
Let's look at the FACTS to decide. First let's see what's happening with the greater Greenville Market. As any good appraiser will tell you, we need to focus on properties that have SOLD. YTD thru 8/10/08 sales are down 18% and the average days on market (DOM) is up to 91 days from 85 days YTD 2007. This is softer for sure, but much stronger than the rest of the country AND the average sales price is UP 2.6% to $185,600. Despite building inventories of homes available for sale, we haven't seen the depreciation of other markets.
What about SUGAR CREEK? Our neighborhood, because of home quality, school excellence, wonderful amenities and family friendliness, has consistently been in high demand. This year (1/1- 8/31/08) the same holds true based on many key indicators. Sugar Creek's YTD Days on Market has DROPPED to 41 days, down 24% from last year and is more than twice as fast as the Greenville average. Our Sales price per square foot has also appreciated 3.3% to $94 over our $91 average last year. Our average sales price of homes is $273,682 for the 17 homes sold so far this year which is way above the Greenville average of $185,630. And while our number of homes sold is down slightly from last year 19 vs. 22, and our average sales price also appears somewhat lower, a quick look at the data reveals that we had a large number of high end homes sell last year. With adjustments for those homes, we're at least on par with Greenville's 2.6% appreciation if not more.
All in all, Sugar Creek & Greenville markets are in pretty good shape. Our real estate market, like our Upstate weather is mostly sunny with an occasional period of overcast! Look for this market snapshot in future issues. Source: Greater Greenville Association of Realtors
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