Here's a chart of local Corvallis real estate data we're given at work on a monthly basis that I like to share on the blog.
I've been posting these stats for the last few months, but I've never really taken time to explain them in case they are not self-explanatory. I'll discuss the categories first, this will be very basic, it's my take on things, so others may interpret the charts differently ...
Active houses are for sale... and available. This year we have a real shortage of active available homes compared to last. Inventories have been running low for months now in comparison to the same time last year. The list of active homes is pretty much constantly changing every day. Many homes coming on the market are changing status from active to under contract in a very short time.
Pending homes, in this case I believe, are still technically not sold, but they were active and now are under contract and in the process of working through escrow, so they are basically not available unless the sale falls through.
Pending to active ratio is an interesting one. It basically is a measurement of homes in process of going through escrow to homes which are active and available. When you compare this years numbers to last year's numbers, there is in general a higher ratio of pending to active homes this year than last... despite low inventories, what we have is selling in good numbers.
Number sold... pretty self explanatory. Homes have changed ownership. Despite the relative shortage available homes recently, we've had about the same number of sales occur during this period that we did last year.
List to price ratio... Homes this year are pretty much being sold at, or very near, asking price in most cases. It looks like last year there were a few more "deals" out there. I know from what I've seen recently that there are a fair number of homes entering little bidding wars and selling for above asking price.
The average days on market is interesting. In most cases homes are selling faster this year. Now looking at the numbers someone might think that properties are sitting for 2.5 to 4 months. That's generally not the case. The days on market is taken from the day it hits the market til the day it closes. Unless a home is bought cash outright, it can take quite a while to work through a sale. A home could very feasibly hit the market, have an accepted offer that day or a few days later, and still take another 60 or so days to work through the whole process. If a home sale falls through, it all starts over again. "Days on market" doesn't necessarily correspond to days available for purchase. Overall, homes do seem to be moving faster this year.
Average $ per square foot is sort of an indicator of where the market is heading price-wise. The numbers can be skewed at any given point it time or price point, but over time if that number is going up house prices in general are probably going up.
Well, that's my simple interpretation of the numbers anyway. It seems to be a good time to be a seller, buyers seem to be out there and homes are selling.
Please click here if you'd like to see last month's numbers.
If you or someone you know has been thinking about selling a home, give me a call or
email me. I'd be happy to answer any questions and be of help to you.
