Weekly Scorecard 4-5-10
The story this week is that inventories keep creeping up but the sales volumes remain impressive. In surveying the listings, both sold and pending, what the numbers are not showing is the number of listings selling at or higher than the asking price. As we have discussed before if a home has “obvious” value there seems to be no shortage of buyers. What is obvious value? Well the market seems very oriented to the per sq. ft. price and homes in good condition that are under the average per sq. ft. price seems to go very quickly and in some cases are bid up over the asking price. How do you find this price? Go to the monthly stats on this blog and click on “Monthly” and find the per sq. ft. price graph. That is the prevailing per sq. ft. price. Listings priced at or under that number for the maket area that you are interested in seem to be moving. There looks to be no shortage of buyers but they are demanding a good deal. This is keeping prices flat.
However a look at the Altos research graphs shows the decline in inventories and the pricing graphs which were falling appear to be bottoming and in some cases turing up slightly. Local home owners have noticed that houses have sold and are bringing inventory to the market but the inventory being brought to the market is at higher prices than buyers seem to want to pay. Let’s see how this tug of way plays out.
Here is the spreadsheet: Weekly scorecard 4-5-10