I attended a Market Review by Mike Orr last Wednesday. Mike is the analyst behind the Cromford Report. If you are an ARMLS subscriber, I recommend that after reading this article you go immediately to his site and sign up for your FREE subscription to his market stats. I’ll give you a preview of what’s available.
Mike compared different methods for tracking or measuring prices. He said that average sales prices were skewed upwards by luxury homes; median prices are skewed downward by low-end REO’s; Case-Shiller index analyzes “pairs”(same house selling twice) which are infrequent and delayed 60 days minimum. So he concludes that an average sales price/square foot is the best compromise. Naturally he has charts tracking those numbers.
This chart shows the market has ended its steep decline and is attempting to stabilize and possibly bump up. The average price per square foot has actually started up in some of the outlying cities which were the hardest hit price wise last year.
Other interesting observations show active listings dropping 10,000 in the last 2 months.
Current ARMLS actives are less than 41,000.
Current Pending sales are the highest ever recorded-let’s say that again the HIGHEST EVER RECORDED yes that includes 2004 and 2005.
And it’s interesting to see the trend of sales per month spread out instead of stacked by month like ARMLS does it.
Yes the numbers might be the same (or similar- Mike updates his even after the fact) but seeing them trend up and down tells the story of the “recovery” we have seen since 12/07.
His entire presentation is available on the John Hall & Associates Intranet. Or just go to his site and explore yourself. There’s great information for you and your clients. Thanks Mike-great job.
