Now is the time of the year that our local real estate market typically wakes up and comes back to life after the lull through the Christmas season. When we look back, we see that each year, January is the slowest month with the lowest sales volume. This year is no exception to that rule. The volumes that we are seeing right now are low, lower than last year, but that makes sense considering that we went through December with lower volumes.
The single family home market continues to be the relatively stronger part of the market. Although sales volume is down, selling prices are relatively similar to where they were last year at this time. However, if the volume stays low, I would expect prices to soften as an increased number of motivated sellers bring their houses to market.
The condo market, unfortunately, is experiencing more challenges from a sellers point of view. Like houses, the volume of sales is quite low. But, unlike houses, the median selling price is well off from last year. If you have a condo that you must sell, you will need to price your unit sharply to generate interest.
One very important point to keep in mind is that when selling prices are down, it also means that buying prices are down - obviously. The saying that I use is "The ocean floats all boats!" In short, don't worry too much about selling in a down market as you will recoup it in the purchase.
Here are the stats from the last 30 days:
Over the last 30 days, 91 single family houses were sold, down by 20 houses from last week. The median price is up $5,000 to $540,000. The average house was on the market for 72 days.
In the same time period, 50 condos were sold, down by 7 condos from last week. The median price is down $7,825 to $235,175. The average condo was on the market for 63 days.
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