What Our Real Estate Numbers Tell Us About the Market

What do our market numbers tell us about what we can expect to see in real estate this year? I’ll go over those numbers and answer that today. What can the latest numbers tell us about our real estate market? There were 2,230 sales in the month of April, which is a very strong performance of the market. In fact, last April only saw 2,213 sales. Of those 2,230 sales, 438 were apartments, 567 were townhomes, and 1,225 were detached homes. As far as prices go, we saw a 5% increase in detached homes compared to last fall.  There were 4,913 active listings in April, down 13% from last year, which made it the lowest inventory for April in 10 years. 2,950 new listings came on the market compared to 3,942 last April. That means new listings were down 25%.  Buyers have fewer options and as a result, their offers are higher. Over the past year, detached home prices rose 14.5% to $888,900, townhome prices rose 26% to $446,000 and apartment prices rose 29% to $285,400. So what’s influencing the market? Unfortunately, the production of multi-family homes is lagging. First, we’ve got a lot of first-time homebuyers taking advantage of new government down payment options. Then we’ve got people who are downsizing. Unfortunately, the production of multi-family homes is lagging. We probably won’t see production start to catch up until later in the year.  If you’re a buyer in our market, you need to be really well prepared with your financing and well represented when you negotiate on a home in case it turns into a multiple offer situation.  As a seller, you want to make sure that you’re getting the right price for the product that you have. You also need to make sure you are represented by the right agent to ensure your home sale goes successfully.  If you or anyone you know is planning on purchasing or selling a home, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I’m happy to answer any of your questions.