Each day the question is asked, “What are you seeing in the market, and what do you expect in the coming months?” And month by month, the answer continues to be more clarified by what we are seeing in the market place. January Results seem to further indicate that the road to real estate recovery will be a long one.
Closings
Last year the total number of closings in January was the lowest since 2001. That has changed and January 2010 has logged the lowest number of closings since 2001. NOT ENCOURAGING.
There were a total of 2,604 closings for all single family units in January 2010. This was a decrease of 8.9% from the previous year.
Of these closings 2,222 were single family detached homes. This represented a decline of 11.5% from the prior year.
We are still seeing approximately half or more of all single family homes fail to close each month. This is further indication of the stricter underwriting guidelines and the poor condition of many properties.
Average Sale Prices
One bright spot in the market was average sales prices for single family detached homes increased by 5.4% from January 2009.
The average for single family attached units was $142,600 which is a decrease of 8.1% from January 2009. This is the lowest average sales price since January 2000 at which time it was $139,750. We expect this to continue through the year as we expect to see thousands of foreclosed, new construction condos come on the market. THIS YEAR COULD BE THE YEAR TO BY A CONDO.
Comments
Please beware that several key factors await us in the coming months. First the government has all but exhausted funds allocated for buying Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS). This has been a key component in keeping interest rates low. Secondly, the tax rebate is set to expire. In order to take advantage of the rebate YOU MUST BE UNDER CONTRACT BY APRIL 30, 2010 and you must close before JUNE 30, 2010.
