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You may be thinking that sales numbers increasing sounds like great news, not the numbers staying the same, right? But the truth is that when you look at how we did in terms of home sales in 2011 versus the year prior, having similar sales numbers is great news.
Remember all that government intervention that was being hyped back in 2010 when Uncle Sam was doling out large tax credits to first time homebuyers? The desired impact was indeed captured, in that the number of home sales in our area only declined a few percent unlike the same much higher statistic from 2009. To give you an idea of the seemingly innocuous improvement, consider this: 2009 sales numbers were 15.4% lower than the previous year. Numbers in 2010 were only 3.7% lower than the preceding year but that was largely attributed to government tax incentives offered to first time homebuyers. The upward trend is exactly the kind of thing we need to see before we can even begin to think of a real estate recovery.
Sales Numbers Strong Despite Absence of Tax Incentives
Now when you look at our sales last year, you realize that things are looking up because they are very close to the year when homebuyers were receiving tax credits in the several thousand dollars for each home purchase. Considering that there were no such incentives in 2011 yet the same number of homes sold, the trend is very much a positive one.
Home Prices Remain Stable Over Past Two Years
Unprecedented, we witnessed an almost imperceptible change in home prices year over year. The average selling price in 2010 was just $11 more than the same in 2011 at $172,013 in the latter.
Does Declining Inventory Point to Stability in the Future?
Inventory continues to decline as more homes are sold and buyers take advantage of incredible buying opportunities. At a current decline of almost 16%, sellers are impacted with less competition but buyers have fewer homes to choose from at the same time.
Average Number of Days On Market Rises Slightly
Some markets have seen a greater increase on the number of days on average that homes are on the market before they sell but we were lucky to see only about an 8% increase to 113 Days On Market, looking at 2011 versus 2010. Moving into 2012, we can at least expect to see more of the same as 2011 if not an improvement.
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Based on the trends we’re seeing over the past several years, things only seem to get better and better. We are predicting a strong market ahead in the Greenville area with plenty of sales on record, continued low interest rates and hopefully not too much of further decline in housing values.
Thanks for the great report Dan. Looking forward to a fantastic year!
ReplyDeleteEric Knight