Despite low inventory levels, it’s been a great first quarter for residential real estate sales. Sales are up over 2016 and the highest we’ve seen in a decade. Inventory is starting to build so hopefully we can sustain an even better second quarter.
Residential sales in January were great; up 29.9% over 2016 and the most January sales since 2007. February was not as good. We actually lost a little ground with a decline of 20.7%. March pulled the quarter back up with another double digit gain; up 38.5%. That brought the total quarterly residential sales to 330, up 16.6% over 2016.
Inventory has been on the rise since mid March.
Inventory has been on the rise since mid March. It’s still low for this time of year, ideally I’d love to have double the listings we have now. However, the increase is starting early this year. Because there is so little competition right now, properties are coming on the market hoping to find a buyer that has been waiting and get a premium price on their property.
At the start of April, the type of activity we are seeing in a given week is about 50 new properties on the market, 43 going under contract, 19 price decreases & 7 that were under contract but fell apart and are back on the market.
The second quarter always has more sales than the first quarter for residential real estate sales. The third quarter will have more sales than the second quarter. Typically the third quarter has the most sales but we have been mixing it up recently with some really good fourth quarters too. Last year there were nearly 60% more sales in Q2 than in Q1. We will need, and should get, a lot more properties on the market to sustain that type of activity. The only question is if there will be enough listings to build up the inventory. Last year’s summertime high was under 700 properties for sale; about a 3 month supply. We will probably have fewer properties than that this year.
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