OK data junkies. I’ve posted links to 3 tables showing single family real estate trends (SF. no condos or multis) here in Essex County MA for the last 6 months. All charts trend 3/28/08 – 9/28/08 vs. 3/29/09 – 9/29/09. These “prior” and “current” time periods represent the prime seasonal selling before the financing crash of 2008 vs. this year’s best season post crash. (Click here for a timeline of the crash.)
The 3 tables detail:
- Active Trends – SF properties for sale. “Seller wants” prices and # of units for sale.
- Sold Trends – SF properties that sold. “Buyer will pay” prices and # of units sold.
- Under Agreement Trends – SF properties waiting to close. The pipeline.
What’s it all mean? In a nutshell
- There were 13% fewer SF properties for sale in Essex County so far this year than last.
- Sellers asked 2.9% more for those properties.
- Buyers were willing to pay 9.2% less than last year.
And keep in mind that:
- The # of sales was down by 4.5% (even as there was less inventory!)
- The # of properties in the pipeline (UAGs waiting to close) is up 5.6% (I would hope so since the # of available properties was down by 13%)
- The asking price for those properties is 7.3% lower than last year.
The bottom line:
- Don’t sell unless you have to.
- If you have to sell, hire a marketing pro that knows the #s and uses a stager.
- If you’re buying, sellers are negotiating a lot or they’re not selling.
- If you’re selling and buying, lucky you. You might not do well with your “sell” but your “buy” will more than make up for it. See this article on CNNMoney telling “sell at a loss, buy at a BIG gain” for some perspective.
Finally, see this Boston Globe article by Robert Gavin for the Massachusetts come back. We’re doing better than most …
