Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Homes are selling faster (reprinted from floridarealtors.org)


WASHINGTON – Oct. 23, 2012 – Inventories of for-sale homes aren’t the only thing dropping. The amount of time homes stay on the market is growing shorter as well – down 11 percent in the last year – according to the latest Realtor.com data.

Homes were listed on average 95 days, according to September housing data. That is down from 107 days a year earlier.

Homes sell fastest in Oakland, Calif., where the median age of the inventory averages 21 days – 57 percent below one year ago. Denver, Colo., boasts a median age inventory of only 38 days, followed by fast-selling markets of Stockton-Lodi, Calif., with 43 days, and San Francisco with 44 days.

As the median age of the inventory is falling, inventories of for-sale homes continue to hover at record lows too, dropping 18 percent last month compared to a year ago.

“There’s a recovery,” Curt Beardsley, vice president of Realtor.com, told BusinessWeek. “Our market times are low and there’s actually a compression of inventory.”

Homebuyer demand is increasing, with housing affordability still high and ultra low mortgage rates that have pushed homebuyers’ purchasing power higher. The rise in demand has caused asking prices to also rise. Last month, the median asking price was $191,500, up 0.8 percent compared to a year earlier, Realtor.com reports.

Source: “Listings of Homes for Sale Drop as U.S. Housing Recovers,” BusinessWeek (Oct. 15, 2012) and REALTOR® Magazine Daily News

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