AUGUST WEEKLY FINISH: 2000+ CLOSED!
ACTIVE LISTINGS FALL...Fewest number of Active in 2008...
PENDING SALES: 6,724 ( -531 from last week)
ACTIVE WITH CONTINGENCY: 941 ( -150 from last week)
CLOSED ESCROW: 2,123 ( +1,009 from last week)
CLOSED MTD: 5,843
ACTIVE LISTINGS: 51,614 ( -794 from last week)
Single Family Closings: 1,894 ( + 904 from last week)
August Stats
AUGUST CLOSED ESCROWS: 5,843 (Aug '07- 4,307)
Single Family Quick Stats
SINGLE FAMILY CLOSED August: 5,237 (Aug '07-3,544)
Single Family Pendings: 6,067
Single Family Listings: 42,347 ( -608 from last week)
The month of August finished up with an exceptional flourish, showing us it is possible to close 2000 escrows in one week again-wasn't sure if that possible given the last year! The number is down slightly from July, but certainly a lot better than I had forecast. I didn't see 2000+ closings happening in the last week, but here we are.
The 5843 was our second best month this year behind July's 6,033. Remember these are all MLS sales, and while their are some preforeclosure and short sales, these are legit sales, not bids on the court house steps. These are realtor transacted sales, and it means someone is buying. A lot of positives can be taken from this month. I am feeling a lot better at our chances of a turnaround in the next six months.
Perhaps even more exciting to me is that we are approaching that magical number of 50,000 listings on the MLS. The numbers are definitely not peeling away as fast we would like, but we are within earshot of that mostly symbolic fence, and I am looking forward to slipping beneath it at some point. It could take several more months, but it is getting closer. The single family listings have slipped as well, and we are at about 8.08 months supply of listings, according to the latest figures. Its not ideal, but its easy to see that a drop to 40,000 of SFD listings will put us at about 6+ months of supply, a far more manageable figure of homes for sale than what we have experienced. We should see some influx of first time buyers as well, as the tax incentives and govt bailout tools will start having an effect toward the 4th quarter, and into the first half of next year. I am not going to be overly optimistic by predicting any "boomlet", but it should guarantee some strength in the housing sector for the short term. If we can continue to shave listings, and continue to show sales strength, things will get back to equilibrium. We are probablt not going to go back to a less than three month supply of housing on the market, but I think if we can get to a factor of 5- 35000 SFD listings, and selling 7000 SFD a month, for example- we will have likely seen the end of downward pricing pressure. As it is, we are still a ways off from that, but there are many signs of optimism to be gleaned here. It certainly appears that last summer was way worse than now, and we are bouncing along now above that by a decent, but not flashy, margin.
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