January 2012 Market Update

Market Summary for the Beginning of December   
To start with, let us look at the ARMLS data across all areas and types:
 
New Listings to the Market: November saw an 11.5% drop in new homes entering the market and December saw a further drop of 14.5% with only 6480 homes entering the market.
 
Percentages of the Market:  Real Estate Owned (REOs or Bank Owned) accounted for 28% of the market down a bit, Short sales accounted fo 31% of the market which is up a bit and Non-Distressed or Regular sales accounting for 41% of total sales which seems ridiculously high when compared to what I see on a day to day basis but remains unchanged from November.

Sales per Month: 7,416 in December - up 2.5% from November.

Active Listings (including AWC): 24,641 on January 1st - down 7.6% from December 1st.

Active Listings (excluding AWC): 18,320 on January 1st - down 5.5% from December 1st.

Pending Sales: 9,146 on Januaryt 1st, down 10% from December 1. 

Days Inventory: 76.1 on January 1s, down from 96 on December 1st. Significantly down from last month and also  dramatically down form 184 at this time last year

Sales Price as a Percentage of List: 96.67% on December 1, exactly the same as on November 1 but up from 95.59% on December 1, 2010.  The sales price has been at or above 94% of list for 32 of the last 36 months.

Overall we see dramatic decreases in inventory and inventory availability.  This is also reflected with the  buyers I am currently working with having a difficult time finding a property.  Most are involved in multiple offers.  The only negative factor is the decrease in pending sales which most likely is a result of the inability of buyers to obtain a property.   Buyers are going to have to be very aggressive and timely to obtain a property in the near term.  In many recent cases, offering above list price and still not having the winning bid on a piece of property.  With fewer and fewer homes coming on to the market as evidenced by close to 10,000 homes on the market with only 6500 new listings on the market an ever shrinking pool of homes is evidenced.  Many of the homes that are left on the market are the difficult or impossible sales due to condition and financing.

Ring in the New Year and a New Market