November and December are traditionally slow months for real estate sales. People would rather focus on the various holidays, rather than think about buying and selling houses. Well, this year things appear to have slowed a little bit earlier than usual.
Based on the towns I’m tracking below, the number of closed sales for single family homes was down 31% overall when comparing November 2008 to November 2007. That’s fairly significant. Here are the monthly stats. Data comes from the local Multiple Listing Service and is deemed reliable, but not guaranteed…
My observations…
1. Don’t pay too much attention to the percentage change in the Median Sales Price. This is driven by the number of closed sales, which on a monthly basis isn’t very many in most towns. You know, in statistics they always want your sample size to be greater than 30 (N >= 30). There is a question here about statistical relevance. In January when I report the entire year of data, the overall Median Sales Price by town will be more telling and reflective of the entire year.
2. The fields highlighted Yellow in the Months of Inventory column represent Buyer’s markets. It’s traditionally a Buyer’s market when there is more than 6 months of inventory available in a town. The six towns highlighted White are Neutral markets, typically denoted when there is 3-6 months of housing inventory available in a town. Right now, there are no Seller’s markets in the towns I’m reporting. A Seller’s market is denoted when there is 0-3 months of housing inventory available.
3. Sellers, your houses are going to take longer to sell at this time of year. Make sure they are in tip top showing shape and that your pricing is realistic in order to put your best foot forward. And be prepared for lowball offers, even if your house is priced appropriately. There are lots of people out there looking for bargains and they’ll just keep dropping lowball offers until they find someone who will bite. Don’t be offended, it’s just the nature of the market now that some of the negotiating power has shifted to buyers.
