Tuesday, January 27, 2009
by The Hat Team
Pending home sales eased against a deteriorating economic backdrop but remain in a stable range, according to the National Association of Realtors®.
The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in October, slipped 0.7 percent to 88.9 from an upwardly revised reading of 89.5 in September, and is 1.0 percent below October 2007 when it was 89.8.
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said a review of the past year is instructive. “Despite the turmoil in the economy, the overall level of pending home sales has been remarkably stable over the past year, holding in a generally narrow range,” he said. “We did see a spike in August when mortgage conditions temporarily improved, which underscores two things – there is a pent-up demand, and access to safe, affordable mortgages will bring more buyers into the market.”
Let’s take a look at the sales statistics for November 2008 to see how the Montgomery AL real estate market looks:
This Novmember, Montgomery AL saw market times decrease by 16 days, when compared to November 2007. Pending sales have decreased 11% in November 2008 from November 2008. The average sales price dropped 22% to $115,405 while sold listings were down 30% from November 2007.
|
Midtown
Montgomery
|
Pending
Sales
|
Sold
Listings
|
Average
Market Times
|
Average
Sales Price
|
|
November 2008
|
40
|
21
|
71
|
$115,405
|
|
November 2007
|
45
|
30
|
87
|
$148,420
|
Once again it is important to note the impact of foreclosure resales on overall statistics. As of today, 50% of the pending sales in Midtown are foreclosures that average $43,261. When the value of these sales is deducted from the overall pending sales data, the average sales price of the other pending sales is $174,432---a marked increase over 2007! Clearly, foreclosures continue to dilute sales price averages but non-foreclosure sales continue to gain ground.
Information is provided by the Montgomery Area Association of Realtors and is deemed accurate but not guaranteed.
