The 2022 real estate market ended the year at a snail’s pace. It slowly trudged through the last months of the year with sales that were similar to our slowest time of year; the beginning. So what does that mean for the start of 2023? Are sales even slower than a snail. What would that even be? Maybe a sloth?
Looking back at 2021
If we look backwards instead of forward and compare 2022 to 2021, we can get an idea what is happening with inventory, days on market and sales prices too. Statistics are an important tool but can be utilized to prove a variety of statements, even contradictory ones. Therefore, they need to be combined with additional information to draw a valid conclusion. Looking back to see where we have been combined with current market activity gives us the best understanding of the Summit County real estate market.
Summit County residential sales
Residential sales in 2022 were a measly 1,375. That’s 36% lower than 2021’s 2,136 residential sales and the fewest sales seen in a decade. While sales were slower throughout the year, the bottom fell out in November and December. Both months had less than 100 sales each. It has only happened once in this century that November or December has had below 100 sales. That was in 2008 when the bottom fell out due to the recession. That is a significant slow down!
Homes for sale
When we compare 2022 to 2021, we see the number of residential properties for sale has skyrocketed. The end of 2021 had just 92 Summit County homes for sale. 83.7% of those 92 homes were listed for at least $1,000,000. 2022 ended with nearly three times as many homes for sale. Of the 254 homes for sale, 76.8% were priced over $1,000,000. Not much has changed as January ends. Of the 230 residential properties for sale, only 71.7% are priced above $1,000,000. We are finally starting to build some inventory of lower priced properties. Although, 65 homes under $1,000,000 is still not very many.
Average sales price
The average residential sale price is continuing to climb as well. In 2022 it was up to $1,282,558, a 13% increase over 2021. Although that average price likely has something to do with the limited number of lower priced properties for sale. In 2022 47.1% of residential properties sales were at or above $1,000,000. With the lowest residential sale of $185,000 and the highest at $12,200,000 it is surprising that the average sale price is as low as it is.
Cash is king
Not surprisingly, the number of cash sales did rise in 2022. Given the sharp increase in interest rates, cash sales did not increase very much. Every year cash sales make up around 25-30% of the total residential sales in the county. 2021 had 29% cash sales and 2022 had 31.7%. It’s not much out of the norm but is up a little bit.
Days on market
Also as expected, properties stayed on the market longer in 2022 than they did in 2021. In 2021, 78.5% of sales went under contract in the first 30 days of listing. Only 70.8% sold in 30 days in 2022. The average days a property spent on the market actually went down to 27 in 2022 but the median was 9. 2021’s average was 28, just a day higher, but the median was just 4 days on the market.
January time on the market
Looking at the average days on the market for the full years don’t paint an accurate picture of the market today. This is when the current information is necessary to draw a conclusion. January’s average time on the market was 63 days. That’s more than double 2021 and 2022. The median increased ten fold to 41. That information shows us how significantly the brakes have been slammed on the real estate market.
January residential sales
January residential sales continue the slowing, dropping to just 54 for the month. That is a low not seen since 2010. The lower number of sales the last three months is what is building inventory. There is not an abundance of sellers right now. It is just a decline in buyers.
Real estate is picking up
The news stories about the real estate market picking up are popping up everywhere. Perhaps that is true but just the talk about it will help bring more buyers into the market. People tend to gravitate to things everyone is doing. We are fielding more calls about properties and our personal business has been picking up recently. It takes a while for that activity to turn into sales and, in turn, statistics. It is, however, a positive sign in a slow market.
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