Recently we have witnessed some of the strongest improvements in the housing market for a long time!
The June statistics show a solid 25% gain for the number of sales in the residential single family sector over the same month last year. On average, across the gamut of categories from mobile home to commercial, we saw a 13% lift in the volume of sales.
The slow start to the year pulled the stats back a little. Year over year, however, we are still seeing an impressive 5% gain over last year at the same time. The single family sector still outperformed most of the other categories with a solid 12.4% gain for year to date metrics.
In terms of pricing, what is apparent is that most sellers now understand the importance of pricing their home accurately in this current market which ultimately leads to tighter sales values to list price ratios. Across all the categories, we are seeing the average price has increased 6.23% compared to the same month last year although year to date stats show a very modest decrease in values.
In all, there remains a cautious optimism that we are continuing to see increased velocity which is really what drives the market. When sales volumes decline, so does the relative accuracy of the data we can provide. The indication of that is analysis of water front single family homes where the low number of sales lead to wild swings in the data that we receive.
At the moment, I would guess that we will see a vibrant summer compared to the last few years and likely an uptick in resort sales in the fall which will start to round out what I believe we will be able to call a recovery year at the end of this calendar year... lets hope!
This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.