Existing-home sales rise in January

According to the National Association of Realtors^®, prices are steadily rising above the levels of the last two years.  Total sales also rose in every region except the West which has been impacted the most by lowered inventory.  Limited inventory has plagued the market across the board for some time now, especially in Brevard County.  Buyer traffic has picked up significantly while seller traffic holds steady.  Lawrence Yun, the NAR's chief economist stated that buyer traffic actually rose 40% since a year ago.  This increase has resulted in higher demand for inventory that is low.  The paradigm shift to a seller's market has begun.  When buyer's hear "seller's market" it is understandable that they are wary to begin there search but this is actually a good thing.  It not only means that seller's may be more inspired to list their homes for sale easing the deficient inventory but it also means that prices and property values are on the increase.  That is a good thing!  The market is anticipating a seasonal rise in inventory this spring but given the buyer traffic, it is projected to be insufficient thus creating more multiple offer situations which tend to drive purchase prices up.

*This historic A.J. Sherwood House photo was provided courtesy of:
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Distressed homes sales-short sales and foreclosures- were actually on the decline slightly since the end of last year.  These types of transactions usually carry a discount off market value of on average around 20% for foreclosures and 12% for short sales.  While getting a "steal" isn't necessarily a bad thing, I for one am glad to see a decline in these properties.   A lot of times in foreclosures, the previous owner lets the home go into a state of disrepair and in some cases, intentionally destroys elements of the property as some sort of revenge against the bank.  This makes it very difficult for buyers who are financing their purchase to be in the game.  No lender is going to write a loan for a property in that's condition is that poor.  Not only that, and the same goes for short sales, the sellers are generally not going to make the necessary repairs to the property to get the transaction closed.  Who wants to wait three months or in some cases over a year for a short sale to close anyway?

Residential properties on average are selling four weeks sooner than last year and spending a lot less time on the market says NAR president Gary Thomas, broker/owner of Evergreen Realty in Villa Park,CA. In January,  31% of homes spent less than 30 days on the market!  First time home buyers accounted for 30% of all homes purchase in the same month.  These statistics should make buyers and sellers feel good what they're doing and the condition of the market.  I guess the only thing that concerns me to a degree is the limited inventory and whether or not it will create somewhat unrealistic price increases.  That could be especially concerning with some of the strict underwriting standards lenders have adopted since the 2008 collapse.  I guess time will only tell but I tend to think that these statistics will inspire more sellers to bring their houses to market.