As expected, considering we are experiencing a quarantine, the number of new sales has dropped drastically. This time last year, we had between 75-85 pending sales every day. The past couple of weeks we have had between 18-35. However, there are several other positive aspects of the market to consider.
1. Prices are not dropping. In fact, we are experiencing significantly less price reductions this year than we did last year. This past week we had 148 price reductions vs. 575 price reductions this week last year!
2. Inventory. Our inventory is still low. We currently have 1000 less homes for sale on the market than we did this time last year. We currently have approximately 5 months worth of inventory on the market, which is a very healthy number. Our inventory today is just under 5600 homes for sale. This time last year we had 6700. (The bottom of the market in 2010 had over 11,000 homes for sale!)
3. Interest rates are at a historic low. As long as the rates remain low, we should still see a reasonable numbert of sales, especially from first time home buyers.
As we know, there are a lot of unknowns with the current state of the market and country. I will be happy to keep you informed as to any changes in the market. We will likely start seeing some very motivated sellers.
If you are looking for a good deal in any particular neighborhood, please email me and let me know the neighborhood and the price range so I can be sure to keep an eye out for you.
