MLS Stats 3/23/08

Pending + AWC contracts blows past 7000!

We seem to be continuing a stronger trend in the resale market....here are the stats for the week ending 3/23/08...

Pending Sales: 6000 ( +263 from last week)

Active w/ Contingency 1108 ( +50 from last week)

Total Contracts: 7108 ( +313 from last week)

Closed Contracts through 3/23/08 815 ( -114 from last week)

Active listings: 56534 ( +233 from last week)

Closed Month to Date: 3/23/08 2532


The numbers are generally good. If we look into the trends, we are seeing a growing strength in buyer activity, probably in the lower price ranges, but nonetheless, the first time homebuyers are the foundation of our market. Its great to see us cresting over the 7000 contracts threshold, and we did with some room to spare even. The closings were down, but the middle of the month usually sees a little dip, as this week's numbers should be much higher. We have this full week and monday next, so we are on a very good pace for sales beating February.

The number that still worries me most is the number of active listings. This has stubbornly held on to this mid 50K's for while, and doesn't really show signs of coming down. This is going to contribute to lower home prices, as there is a lot to choose from out there, and even with increased activity, flexible sellers are the ones who will move there homes. There is simply too much resale inventory. On the other hand, the builders have done a nice job of decreasing their stockpile of homes, so they are not exacerbating the problem, quite so much. There has been good news on many fronts for the housing market in the last few weeks. February sales were up nationally, although the west was not part of that trend. We lag, it seems, so we will show up with some better numbers in the next few months. It was widely reported yesterday that February home sales were up 2.9% nationally, although prices dipped again. Our February numbers were up better than that locally. Our future numbers, pendings and AWC, continue to rebound, with significant increases on a weekly basis. It was less than a quarter ago that the high for AWC contracts was only about 450. A very significant development when you are thinking about buyer activity.