It's always interesting to look at the current market activity in comparison to the market activity of last year. Comparing the same week in a market affected by seasons offers some valid information.
This week, I glanced at the numbers released by MetroList. And while the year is early, the numbers are fascinating.
In the third week of January, 2008, there were 1,141 homes listed for sale in the area that includes Castle Rock, Castle Pines, Roxborough, Sedalia and Larkspur. The average listing price was $750,403. This year, by comparison, there are 1,260 homes for sale, and the average price is $815,838.
A year ago, there were 19 homes sold during the first 3 weeks of January, and the average sales price was $395,741. There were also 31 homes under contract at that time.
By comparison, 2009 has only seen 9 closings in the first 3 weeks of January, and the average sales price is $525,056. There are currently 32 homes under contract.
A few industry trends can be extrapolated with this data. For instance, we can observe that the average sales price has increased dramatically - in fact, by 32.7%. We can also observe that there were less than half of the homes sold in 2009 as in 2008.
These two initial observations point out a significant fact: It's important to take the long view of your local real estate market trends. Three winter weeks are scarcely long enough to reach defensible conclusions. The number of homes under contract (31 vs 32) is a hint that things might not be so very different than January 2008.
I'm going to keep an eye on the market. But I'm also going to keep an eye on my client services. After all, helping buyers find the perfect place to call "home" is what it's really all about.
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