Christmas in July can only mean one thing. That’s right the mid-point of 2010 is upon us. How is our local real estate market doing?
With the 50 year historic low interest rates and the government sponsored tax credit; one would guess it was a great first half. Well, as we always say, let’s go to the numbers. Now is a great time to review, as the vast majority of settlements due to the tax credit have been finalized and are reflected in the numbers.
| Year (1/1- 6/30) | Units Listed | Units Sold | Avg Days on Market |
| 2010 | 121 | 57 | 36 |
| 2009 | 103 | 61 | 76 |
| 2005 | 122 | 70 | 33 |
*based on TREND statistics* Conshohocken Area*
Wow, a very interesting table indeed! On one hand, I am amazed that the average days on market are comparable to 2005 when the market was really heated up. Naturally, the 2005 market had no tax credit carrot hanging about, but still a rather surprising number to me. The other side of the table is equally surprising (I know it doesn’t take much for me). The percentage of homes listed versus sold is actually lower this year than last year. In 2009, nearly 60% of the homes that were listed sold, this year the number is not quite 47%. Wow!
What does it all mean? Homes that were priced right and in good condition virtually flew off the shelves, as evidenced by the days on the market, but there still remains a decent amount of unsold inventory. In summary, we have some real positive signs that things are beginning to turn around, but we are not quite out of the woods yet. We have to see what happens without the tax credits. Should these low rates stick around for a while, I think we’ll continue to see improvements over last year. Either way though, I think we can agree that we are all pretty darn lucky to live in our local market versus the continued carnage as evidenced by the media in other parts of our country.
Matt Mittman- 19428Homes.com