February residential sales in Summit County were a bright spot in what we expected to be a dismal real estate market. With high interest rates constricting demand, we have had pretty low expectations for 2023 real estate sales. February is giving us hope that the housing market is not still in constriction. Maybe the Summit County real estate market is turning the corner.
February residential sales
The beginning of the year is typically a slower time of year for real estate sales in Summit County. This January took slower sales to levels not seen in more than a decade. Therefore, February sales were expected to be similar. There were 84 residential sales in February, however. That is nearly equal to pre-pandemic February sales. February, residential sales in 2020 were only 90. 2019 had 95 sales, with 88 and 74 the two years before. 84 sales in February 2023 is encouraging.
March real estate sales are looking good
There are 50 residential sales so far in March and just another week to go before month end. Pre-pandemic March sales vary greatly over a 5 year period ranging from 85 to 145. They tend to be more frequently around 100 sales. I’m not anticipating another 50 sales this next week, but I’m hopeful we can hit 85. That would be another encouraging month of Summit County residential sales.
Inventory remains low
Residential inventory remains low. It currently sits at 244 homes for sale. Those homes range in price from $315,000 to $19,499,000. 72 homes are priced under $1,000,000. Just 17 are priced below half a million dollars. All but two of those 17 are studios or one bedroom properties.
244 residential properties for sale is about double what we had at this time last year but still less than half of the inventory a balanced market should have. As the ski season winds down, more properties are likely to come on the market. That should bump up inventory levels a little bit until summer when we typically start to see more buyers.
Sales prices are increasing?
It’s incredibly difficult to give a general answer about what is happening to prices. The average sale price for residential properties in February was $1,464,770. A year ago February, the average sale price was $1,358,189. Does that mean prices have gone up 7.8% across the board? Not necessarily. In a previous blog post, The truth about average sale price, we give some insight as to why this statistic cannot be used by itself to determine what’s happening with pricing. The change in average sale price is an easy answer but is rarely an accurate answer. In reality, what is happening in the market varies greatly between price points, or location or property types.
If you are wondering what is happening with the pricing of your Summit County property, give us a call or shoot us an email. We can take a look at the recent market activity and put together accurate pricing information for you.
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