February 2013 MLS Report
The first 2 months of 2013 sure seem to indicate that this will be a good year for housing in our area. Several categories that I track are showing improvement and it is not just one month improvement, this improvement has a good background. We are in our fifth month with the List to Sales price ratio above 95%. The Pending Index is now over 1,100, last time we started here was May 11th 2012. Our February Average Sold price is just $875.00 below year end 2012. February as a month also had the highest number of sold units since February 2007.
On March 1st we saw an increase of 62 homes in our listing inventory; we have 3,494 homes on the market as of March 1st. This adjusted our month’s supply of homes for sale with just over 8.8 months. Our average list price increased this month; we are currently at $355,640. February’s average sold price increased from January by 3.3%. In February sellers paid concessions in about 27.5% of the transactions, the average concession amount is $3,197. Our average days on the market increased to 144 days. The number of homes that sold in 15 days or less continues to remain very low, 12.3% of February sold homes. With smaller inventories, sellers getting 95% of their asking price, shorter number of days that homes are on the market we should see a very good spring. It is possible that we won’t be seeing 3.25% mortgage rates again. If you were considering buying a home now is the time as our basic factors continue to improve.
My business is built 100% representing buyers; identifying homes, providing quantifiable data, crafting strategic offers and successfully closing transactions for my clients. This year, my team and I are on pace to close nearly $30M. What I can tell you is this; in an average week I show nearly 50 homes. I usually put at least one and frequently more than one home a week under contract-much of the inventory that is languishing on the market is doing so for a reason; it is in a poor location, it is over-priced, or it is in poor condition (or a combination of all of the above.)
While the average days on market for a home is sitting in the 140’s, this is a number reflective of several key things- 30% of homes listed will never sell. They are either over priced, woefully neglected, out of date, or in poor locations. Homes that are properly maintained priced appropriately and in good locations are selling VERY quickly; several times in recent weeks I have encountered multiple offer situations for homes listed less than 48 hours.
Listing Inventory
We saw a 62 unit increase in our listing inventory for February over the month of January. We are about 390 units under March 1, 2012, down about 10.0% from last year. A year ago our average list price was $353,423 this year we are down by 1.8%. We currently have 3,494 single family homes for sale in our MLS as of March 1st. The average list price of $355,640 is down by $19,111 from last month. The last time our listing inventory was this low was the spring of 2006 and the inventory was rising at that time. Our inventory got as low as 2,700 to 2,800 in December of 2005. This is typically our low point of the listing inventory and the start of our spring season listing inventory.
Monthly Average Sold Price
February average sold price ($219,251) shows an increase of 3.3% from last month ($212,281) and down by 1.2% from February 2012 ($221,918). Our monthly average sold price is up $7,020 from last month and down $2,667 from February 2012. February average sold price is down .4% from our yearend (2012) sales price of $220,126.
Monthly Sold Units
We are up 51 sold units from January 2013 and up 27 units from February 2012. This February we are up 14.7% in units sold compared to January 2013. This is our best February in sold units in over 6 years. Our February sold units have ranged from a low of 253 in 2009 and we had 498 units in February 2007. We continue our positive trend of upward sales.
Average Sold Price Year to Date
Year over year our year to date numbers have dipped a little.
2003 year end average sale price $ 186,137
2004 year end average sale price $ 210,048
2005 year end average sale price $ 254,080
2006 year end average sale price $ 264,498
2007 year end average sale price $ 273,408
2008 year end average sale price $256,510
2009 year end average sale price $235,116
2010 year end average sale price $230,459
2011 year end average sale price $221,848
2012 year end average sale price $220,126
Our current Year to Date average sold price - $216,005
about 1.9% down from Year End 2012.
Median Sold Price
Our Median sold price increased this month by 2.0% from last month. Our national numbers lag by one month. Our median sales price continues its jagged path. The slight increase in our median sold price in February moves us back up based on the National Median. On a National scale the economy is trying to improve. You should also note that on a national basis the median peaked out about 2 months ago. Ours should continue to improve as we go into the spring.
Pending
Pending Sales – A sale is listed as pending when the contract has been signed but the transaction has not yet closed. Sales are typically finalized within one to two months from signing. I am counting Active Due Diligence and pending contracts in my total pending sales. I look at the total pending units on a regular basis and this is how they chart out. Our pending index was very consistent in 2012 with the pending index staying above 1,000 units for about 8 months.
2013 has already started strong with our pending index above 1,000 units since Feb 1st 2013. We have already crossed over the 1,000 current pending units and we did that on February 1st. We currently have 1,115 pending sales as of 3/09/13. From the agents and managers I have talked with we are seeing an increase in showings and contracts, and pending contracts proves this to be accurate.
Market Absorption rate –
The number of homes sold in February, 397 divided by the current listing inventory, 3,494 gives us an 8.8 month supply of single family homes. This is a decrease of several months from last month. I anticipate we have a chance to see this get lower this spring.
List to Sold price ratio –
The average list price of the sold properties is $229,954 and the average sold price is $219,251 for February which gives us a 95.3% list to sold price ratio – this is the fifth month we are above the magic 95% list to sales ratio.
Seller Concessions –
We had 27.5% of sold properties report a sales concession for February, a decrease of 2.0% from last month. We want this number to go lower. The average concession was $3,197
Days on Market –
The average days on market for the sold properties are now at 144 for February a 9 day increase from last month. Only 12.3% of the properties were placed under contract in less than 15 days for the month of February.
Rolling 12 months
Our rolling 12 months gives us a better look at our production. It helps to smooth out a month that jumps up and down. When we look at March 1st, 2012 to February 28, 2013 we have 5,763 sold units and when we compare the year prior March 1st, 2011 to February 29, 2012 we have a 1,105 unit gain (4,658 sold units). When we look at the same rolling 12 months for average sold price we see that we are only down by 1.2%. So the dates of 3/1/2012 to 2/28/2013 we have an average sold price of $220,335 while from 3/1/2011 to 2/29/2012 we had an average sold price $223,117.
Carolina & Kure Beach
There are currently 299 single family homes for sale and this represents a change of 6 units from February 1, 2013 and it represents about 8.6% of our total WRAR inventory. The average list price is $389,412 and an increase of about $5,010 from February 1, 2013. In February there were 26 homes sold, divide that by the homes available and you have an 11.5 month supply of homes in Carolina and Kure Beach. The average sold price for the month of February was $241,752 and is down by $15,348 from January 2013. The rolling 12 months for Carolina Beach had 380 units vs. 324 the previous year. The average sales price dipped by $14,007. Good Job and it fits in with WRAR overall.
This data was pulled on March 9, 2013, based on information from the Wilmington Regional Association of REALTORS Incorporated, for the period Jan. 1, 2005 through February 28, 2013.
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