Real Estate Trends in Media PA

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Media, PA, United States
Direct: 610-420-0498 Office 610-627-4937 BHHS Fox and Roach Realtors Email: Branka@BrankaDoych.com Visit my website: www.BrankaDoych.com

Friday, November 13, 2009

Market Report

Here are some commets that Larry Flick of Prudential Fox and Roach offered about market trends:
Trends


There are three important trends that support the fact that our market is recovering:

1. Unit sales are increasing

Unit sales are now surpassing those of last year. More homes went under agreement
during the second half of 2009 than the same time period in 2008.
% Change in Pended Sales 2009 versus 2008 (Market Area)

January - 29%
February - 25%
March - 22%
April - 22%
May - 18%
June + 1%
July + 2%
August + 15%
September + 29% 2

2. Inventory is decreasing

Since February 2009, the rate of inventory decrease has been growing each month.
% Change in Number of Homes for Sale versus Previous Year (Market
Area)

January - 0.8%
February - 0.6%
March - 0.7%
April - 3.5%
May - 6.7%
June - 9.9%
July - 10.6%
August - 10.9%
September - 11.9%

3. Months Supply of Inventory is decreasing

MSI is decreasing. In a balanced market, we would expect MSI to be 5 to 6, so there is
still an oversupply of homes available for sale, especially in the higher price ranges.

September Months Supply of Inventory (Market Area)

2005 4.3
2006 7.7
2007 10.3
2008 11.4
2009 7.6

What about Prices?

I’m also frequently asked how much prices have come down. It’s true that prices have
declined. The following chart of paired sales shows how much prices have dropped in
the past year.

Case-Shiller Index Prices Q2 2009 versus Q2 2008
Camden MSA - 7.66%
Ocean City MSA - 15.34%
Philadelphia MSA - 3.33%
Trenton MSA - 6.14%
Wilmington, DE-MD-NJ MSA - 7.30%

From 2006 when prices peaked until June 2009, prices fell overall from 15% to 17%.
The actual amount depends upon location and price range. In a way, these declines are
positive because they’ve brought our market back to reality. The annual 12- 15%
appreciation experienced during the real estate boom was just not sustainable. And the
resulting improvement in affordability is contributing to our market’s recovery.
When one considers the long term trend, housing remains a good long-term investment.

Median Sales Price Trend - September
Estimate 3% increase in 2010 and 2011

The decrease in the values of homes as noted above has played a role in the decrease in
average sales price as reported by Trend and other MLS services.

September Average Sales Price (Market Area)

2002 $187,000
2003 $212,000
2004 $233,000
2005 $263,000
2006 $265,000
2007 $273,000
2008 $260,000
2009 $245,000

But even more than declining price, it is a change in the mix of business that has caused average sales price to decline.

additonal market report information to follow.

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