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Now you can search REO / Bank Owned (Foreclosures) and Short Sale residential listings on my website!
Request a FREE copy "Buying Bank Owned Homes"
Did you know... you can sign up now to make your online property search faster and easier?
Economic and Market Watch Report
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Exciting News!! Claudia Byrne is happy to announce that two new search fields have been added to her website. In addition to traditional re-sale listings, you can now search all listings in the Multiple Listing Service by short sale and bank owned properties.
Simply go to www.ClaudiaSellsReno.com and click on the Home Search page.
Did you know... you can sign up now to make your online property search faster and easier? This service is FREE and easy to use. Simply sign up for a "Listing Watch" Where Your New Home Finds You! on the Home Search page that will offer you an automated email notification when new or price reduced properties post to the Multiple Listing Service based on your search criteria.
March 2009 and 1st Quarter Sales Report
The media continues to report a mix of good and bad news, but we may be seeing the start of a trend in the bottoming out of median sales price – too soon to call but the next two to three months will tell us a lot. Most important, the first quarter of 2009 starts out the New Year at close to 2006-first quarter levels in sales. Of course there are several unknowns. One of the biggest is what impact the lifting of the Moratorium Foreclosure will have on the market. Will that flood the market with new REO properties, which would likely result in a further decline in prices?
On the bright side, activity has definitely picked up, particularly in the under $250,000 price range. With that small ray of sunshine comes the cloud of unemployment which is still a key factor in any market outlook.
- March ended the month with 362 sold transactions as compared to 289 for the month of February – a healthy increase. We have not seen similar numbers in sales since the peak in July 2008.
- The first quarter of 2009 reported sales were 882 compared to 595 for the same period in 2008, a 49% increase.
- Of the homes sold in March, 62 were Short Sales and 198 were Bank Owned. This means that 72% of properties sold in March had Special Conditions. This compares to 71% of sales in February 2009.
- The table below demonstrates a downward shift in the price point for “solds” in the past six months.
Median Price
- After a 1.5% rise in the Median Home Price in February, the Median has settled back to the January level of $200,000 for now – down 1.5% from last month - a 27% decrease from March of 2008. For the past three months, median price has remained relatively stable. Although a report by Global Insight identified Reno as 17% undervalued, things remain uncertain. The challenge of available financing over the conforming loan limits of $403,750 and the volume of sales under $200,000 range, we may see a further negative impact on median price.
Pendings
- There were 591 new Active Pending sales reported for the month of March.
- 78% percent of what’s pending is still in the distressed category.
- The increased demand we see is still at the lower end, with plenty of inventory. Multiple offers on $150K Bank/Owned properties doesn’t do much to drive up prices.
Listings
- There were 728 new listings taken in the month of March, an 11% increase over February 2009.
- 462 of the new listings taken in the month of March were Short Sales and Bank Owned. The percentage of “Distressed” listings in “New Listing” went up 4% - from 59% to 63%. While the “Foreclosure Moratorium” will probably show a decline in new Bank Owned properties in April, the summer months may bring an increase in foreclosures.
Month’s Supply of Inventory (Unsold Inventory ÷ Sales per Month)
- As of March, we had only 9.1 months of inventory. This compares very favorably to 14.1 months supply of inventory as of March 2008. We have to go back to March of 2006 to find better inventory absorption numbers.
Month’s Supply of Inventory by Price Range Table
(Unsold inventory includes Active and
Active Pending listings.) |
Conclusion
- Improved activity is occurring in a media climate of mostly bad to fair news.
- Unsold inventory is down even with new listings increasing month over month.
- Sales are up in virtually every price range and median home prices have remained stable over the past 3 months bucking the national trends.
The data covers “Stick-built” single family residences listed in the NNRMLS Reno ‘100’ market that covers Reno, Sparks, North Valleys, Spanish Springs, Washoe Valley, Virginia City Highlands and Lockwood – basically Washoe County without Incline Village.
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