Triangle Real Estate Sales Numbers are in for April

I have learned that good real estate advice comes from a combination of analyzing past and present data and then using these facts to predict the future.

Some days I wish it was as easy as putting on a cool babushka, sparkly earrings and a long, fringed shawl and staring into a crystal ball that would give me accurate information with a wave of my long-nailed hands.  Oh, and don’t forget to cue the soulful gypsy music in the background! 

OK, enough daydreaming!  The numbers are in for our area for the month of April and my job is to get this info to you in a way you can use.  The point of my fabulous story is that folks tend to use home prices as the only indicator of what is going on in the market.  And sales are up – by 4.6 percent!  But that only tells us what happened in the past – which is called a lagging indicator by those who like to use fancy terms. 

What we need to look at is actual sale to list price, how many days the home was on the market, and what the months’ supply of inventory is -- also called supply and demand by those fancy-term users. 

And the news seems to indicate that we may be in the early stages of trending away from the amazing buyer’s market that we have been in (source www.TriangleMLS.com) 

• New listings in the Triangle increased 1.3 percent to 3,774.
• Pending Sales were up 20.4 percent to 2,272
• Inventory levels shrank 27.3 percent to 14,111 units
• Median sales price increased 3.9 percent to $190,000
• Days on market was down 2.1 percent to 125 days.
• Sale to List Price remained about the same at 96.4 percent
• Months’ supply of inventory decreased 29 percent to 8.3 months (the supply vs demand) 

Real estate does not exist in a bubble so we must also look at the overall economy and job growth.  Preliminary Q1-2012 GDP (gross domestic product) was at 2.2 percent which was slower than Q4-2011, but still continues to show economic expansion.  Banks are processing loans and are actually beginning to ease lending standards.  What a concept -- the banks are finally getting ready to lend the money that we, the taxpayers, gave them! 

My personal experience is that buyers are coming out & more are now ready to take the plunge.  This is still the best time in our nation’s history to buy a home.  Got questions? Let’s talk!