ACTIVE MLS LISTINGS FALL TO 46,999-drop 1461 in one Week!
SINGLE FAMILY LISTINGS FALL TO 37,583-LESS THAN SIX MONTH SUPPLY!
MARCH CLOSINGS SURPASS 6000, LIKELY HEADED FOR 7000.
SINGLE FAMILY CLOSINGS TO TOP 6000, PENDINGS RISE AGAIN.
AWC CONTRACTS RISE SHARPLY, PORTENDS NEW BUYER ACTIVITY.
PENDING SALES: 11,561 ( +371 from last week)
PENDING Single Fam: 10,469 ( +291 from last week)
Active W/Contingency: 2,260 ( +270 from last week)
AWC Single Family: 2058 ( +236 from last week)
CLOSED 3/23-3/29 1,856 ( +210 from last week)
Closed Single Family: 1,687 ( +227 from last week)
CLOSED Month To Date: 6,434
CLOSED MTD SIN. FAM: 5,812
ACTIVE LISTINGS: 46,999 ( -1461 from last week)
ACTIVE SINGLE FAM: 37,583 ( -1271 from last week)
Where to begin this week! Really, a lot of positive signs in the resale market. It was a good week for closings, although we are not done yet, as we have not tallied either yesterday or today in these figures. I think we will push over 7000 sales overall, and I know we have pushed over 6000 in Single Family sales after yesterday. (For sake of of consistency, I don't include Monday in these closing stats.) Note that single family closing increases were higher than overall increases-a sign that the biggest part of our market is becoming the healthiest part of our market.
The news I like best is that active listings are dropping sharply. This is exactly what we need to happen most, and it seems to finally be doing it. Now I had a client point out to me that he thinks banks are sitting on a huge backlog of foreclosed homes that haven't been put on the market yet, which could very well be true. However, I have noticed that most foreclosed land parcels are making it to the market very quickly now, within a month of foreclosure, and I would be surprised that banks would treat the homes differently; they don't treat the sales or listing part any differently; they don't even enlist land agents to sell land, they have the same house agents doing it, in most cases. I digress...the point is, if they are sitting on these homes, they are doing the market a favor by stretching the supply out over longer periods of time, and even if they do put them back on the market, it is likely to come gradually, and we are now seeing the kind of demand that is eating away sharply at inventory. Active listings on March 3, 2009 (and this includes a 999 listing drop created by end of month sales) were 49,279. We have dropped 2280 this month already, and we are likely to see a further drop by next Tuesday, as final sales are accounted for. AWC contracts are up, implying further growth in demand. Things are moving forward, at least in the entry level home market, and as long as we don't see a massive effect from the economy collapsing, I think you will see even better buyer activity going into the summer, as more people realize that the tax credit is a significant incentive at these prices.
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