****March Sales: 9,005****
Pendings Fall Slightly, Short Sales continue to rise
Inventory: 3.8 month supply of homes on the market.
Median home price rises by $3,800 in March.
Pending Sales: 13,590 ( -328 from last week)
Pending Sfam: 11,783 ( -425 from last week)
AWC: 7,721 ( +69 from last week)
AWC SFam: 6,615 ( +54 from last week)
Closed 3/29-4/4 2,664 ( +840 from last week)
Closed Sfam: 2,235 ( +672 from last week)
Active Listings: 34,356 ( -443 from last week)
Active Single Fam: 26,868 ( -305 from last week)
March Closings: 9,005 (March 2009: 7562)
sMarch Sfam: 7,573
March sales finished very strong, just pushing us over the top of 9000. This exceeded March 2009 substantially, so we are still seeing good demand numbers. Some of this of course is the result of the tax rebate expiring in April, but demand strength is definitely widespread.
The Median price was up over February by $3800, and over March 2009 by $8K, so price gains are also substantial. Pending numbers are holding up very well, and we are likely to continue to post gains in pending sales. Short sales will hopefully start moving with the start of the short sale incentive to lenders and borrowers, as that statistic continues to climb. There are in excess of 6000 of these kind of contracts; they linger and clog inventory, and diminish what should be excellent demand. Instead of people buying a home right now, think of it as pushing that sale into next quarter, or maybe two quarters, as that is how long it takes to get through to a closed sale.
There is probably going to be a big build up in April and May due to the tax credit expiring, but there is usually a pretty strong build up in demand in these months anyway. I would expect to see some inventory come off the market, but really, at 3.8 months, inventory doesn't need to fall to see increases in prices.
I was just checking for fun due to a conversation I had with a client, and I noticed that 111 one million dollar+ homes sold in March. I don't follow that stat religiously, but I think the last time I checked it, it was in the high 60's, sometime in the last six months. That to me shows some strength in broader areas of the market than just first time buyers. We continue to get mixed messages from the media on where housing is going, but our local statistics are showing strong month to month gains in prices and volume from January and February. I think we are on a good path.
chris
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