Pendings Rise, Listings Fall Modestly
PENDING SALES: 6,419 ( +212 from last week)
Active W/Contingency: 996 ( +23 from last week)
CLOSED 12/1-12/8/08 943 ( -23 from last week)
ACTIVE Listings: 54,667 ( -177 from last week)
CLOSED MTD (12/14/08) 1,937
CLOSED YTD: 56,064
SINGLE FAMILY STATS
PENDING SALES: 5,796 ( +169 from last week)
Active W/Contingency: 911 ( +25 from last week)
CLOSED: 860 ( +0 from last week)
ACTIVE Listings: 44,944 ( -133 from last week)
CLOSED MTD: 1,746
CLOSED YTD: 49,243
The number of pending home sales increased this past week a little unexpectedly, I suppose, and the number of active listings fell, as they would normally do, but also a little unexpectedly given the circumstances in our market. The number of weekly sales would suggest that we will top 4400 sales this month; we are slightly ahead of the pace of last month; we were at about 1817 at the same date last month, and we finished with 4449 sales. It is not a great month for sales, but it does seem that we are at the baseline, as we have weathered some horrific news over the last several months, and the resale market has not deteriorated past this point. *NEWS FLASH* The fed lowered rates again, basically by 3/4 point, and those of you with HELOCS will greatly appreciate this. An expert was saying that mortgage rates are going to trace this downward, so we may expect rates to be in the 4%'s for homebuyers. This is bound to bring some traffic into banks, as this has created a historic opportunity for inexpensive housing.
I am expecting sales to finish around 4600-4800 for the month of December; it is by no means a great month, but far better than last year, and not a bad baseline for going into the new year. January will be similarly soft, but we will start seeing an uptick in pendings, building towards a good strong March. March, for a lot of you residential agents, might start to feel like a normal market. There will still be far too many listings, but you will see a good number of closings, and buying activity.
I won't be publishing next week, but I want to wish all of you a very happy holiday season.
chris just
just land consultants
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