Howard County Home Sales – October 2008
Summary.
October’s sales stats for Howard County real estate sales, released by MRIS, show a “blending” of trends. Locally there had been signs that our market may have been approaching a “bottom”, but October saw sales of all big-ticket items falter, which lead to slower home sales locally. (Get a full print out of last 6 months home sale stats for Howard County here).
Howard County Home Sales October 2008: The Numbers At-A-Glance
Total sales: 191
Total homes on market (unsold): 1896
“Inventory” level1: 9.9 months (1896 divided by 191). The trend is increasing, as it was 7.0 months in August and 8.0 months in September.
List-2-Sale Ratio2: 91.89% (about the same as prior month, 91.92%)
Days On Market: 110 days (about the same as prior month, 108).
Price Change: -8.71% over same month last year.
John’s Opinion
Leading up to October it looked like the declining real estate market was headed for a “soft landing.” In fact, in September the average price of homes sold in Howard County actually rose 3.25% from the same month in the prior year. But October saw the stock market get hammered, a giant $700 Billion bailout of the financial sector and – no surprise – huge unease about the economy everywhere. All sales slowed: cars (including Toyota and Honda), Starbucks’ coffee (quarterly profits fell 97%) and – no surprise – housing sales fell during the month. Was October a momentary blip or an omen of things to come? Probably neither. Housing likely will remain “soft” through the cold weather months (typically slow anyway), but I don’t believe October’s financial sector blues are an indicator of a long-term trend in housing. (Search active homes for sale in Howard County HERE) (Request monthly print out of Howard County Home Sales HERE)
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1) INVENTORY: Total number of homes “for sale” divided by current rate of sale (or, how long it would take to sell all homes currently on the market, at today’s sale rate, if no new homes came on the market.). A six month inventory level = a “balanced” market, over six months = a “buyer’s market.”
2) LIST-2-SALE RATIO: Ratio of final sale price divided by final asking price. If average seller had to lower price by 4%, then the list-to-sale would be 96%. NOTE: does not include any “cash back” credits towards buyers’ closing costs.
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