MLS Stats through 2/17/08

MLS stats for the prior week....


Pending Sales: 5109 ( +267 from Last Week)

Pending Sales + A W/C: 5989 ( +310 from Last Week)

Closed Escrows: 707 ( +224 from Last Week)

Active Listings: 56109 ( +111 from Last Week)

Closed Escrows in Feb. 2/17/08 1370

We are still seeing a slight uptick in active listings, which is troubling. It would be nice to see that number coming down. On the positive side, look at the nice sustained upward trend in Pending Sales and AWC contracts! We have reached almost 6000 this week, and have reached 880 new contracts in the last 10 days. That is a pace that is almost double all of the second half of 2007. The sales numbers are not really showing up yet, but I suppose that makes sense if you consider that these contracts are all mostly from the second half of January, and we might see a nice jump at the end of the month. There are two sales weeks left in February, and if we replicate last weeks closings, we would be only at 2000 or so with one week left. That is a little light considering how many escrows there are. We are literally at a 50% higher existing contracts than we were through most of the second half of last year! That is a trend we wou like to continue, but the economy is going to play a part in this. One thing that still troubles me as well is that new home sales seem to be lagging again from last year, despite favorable pricing in many of the fringe markets.

We are hoping that the effect of the stimulus package and its effect of raising limits on insurable loans will start to bleed through in the next month as well. That would be a boon to the step up buyers, giving them a chance to enjoy good interest rates. These are by in large very positive numbers, however, and I think we will be breathing a little easier if this trend continues for another month.