Listing Inventory

Real Estate Market Activity, The Woodlands Texas – Sold Prices, Months of Inventory, Days On Market, The Whole Enchelida

by Ken Brand, Sales Manager - Prudential Gary Greene, Realtors / The Woodlands TX / Cell: 832-797-1779 on September 4, 2008

Schools back in session.  Holiday season is just around the corner.  Hard to believe that Christmas is only 112 days away.

 If you want to be in your new home or out before Santa’s Sleigh lifts off, time to act.

Here’s what I see for citizens.

Seasonally listing inventory and sales velocity steadily ebb through the last quarter and begin marching upward after the first of the year.

Current Months Supply Of Inventory = Sellers Market.  Real estate economists agree, six months of for sale listing inventory equals a balanced market.  More inventory equals a buyer’s market, less than six months equals seller’s market.  The Woodlands, Texas Months Supply Of For Sale Listing Inventory = 3.9 Months.

Average Days On Market for Sold and Closed Properties – August, 2008 = 51 Days.  Properties that are staged, merchandised, marketed and priced competitively sell fast.  Properties that are missing one of the ingredients, sit for awhile.  The Average Number Of Days On The Market for unsold Listing Inventory is 91 Days.  Take Away:  Average Days On Market vary by price range, but, if you’re selling and your property has been on the market longer than average, make adjustments now.  You can adjust the merchandising, marketing, staging and the price.  Do it now. In the next 120 days there will be fewer buyers in the market place.

Are Sales Prices Rising or Falling?  Over the last two years, Sold Prices in The Woodlands, Texas have risen 16%.  The Average Sold Price for August, 2008 = $343,959.  

Take Away:  We aren’t living in Phoenix, Miami or Stockton.  Prices are not falling.  If you’re a buyer and you find a property that excites you, buy it now.  Prices should continue to climb.

August Stats for The Woodlands, Texas – all brokers combined:  For Sale Listing Inventory is 13.5% higher today than it was last year, 880 vs 775.  Written Sales Contracts for August were down 24.29%, 187 vs 247.  

The Big Picture Paradox = Sold prices steadily incline, Months Supply of Inventory remains low.  There are fewer sales than last year at this time and there are more homes for sale.  Brokers and buyers and sellers around the country dream about the day their real estate markets look like ours.  Our market is healthy and strong, it is equal to the record breaking activity of two years ago.

Here’s what I see for real estate agents.

The real estate market is a friend to the savvy, sensitive, hustler.  The weak, lazy and slow will starve.  There are fewer transactions, competition is greater and citizen expectations are higher than ever (rightfully so).  To win you must talk to more people, market and merchandise more effectively, communicate more frequently, follow-up more meticulously and deliver everything your clients want, the way they want it, when they want it.  Pretty simple to understand, difficult to do.  The good news, do it and you’ll steam roll the lazy.  Get to it!

If you want to pour over the reports and draw your own conclusions, amen.

 

If you’d like to download both reports, Click HERE

If I can help you with anything, let me know:  Ken Brand – 832-797-1779

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Real Estate Market Polaroid – Month To Date, The Woodlands, Texas

by Ken Brand, Sales Manager - Prudential Gary Greene, Realtors / The Woodlands TX / Cell: 832-797-1779 on August 17, 2008

 

A quick Sunday Evening Market REport For The Woodlands, Texas

For Sale Listing Inventory

At 6:38 pm there are 914 active For Sale listings in The Woodlands.  The Average Listed Price is $494,310 and the Average Number of Days On Market for active listing is 88 days.  Last year, on September 1st there were 789 active For Sale listings in The Woodlands.  Listing Inventory is up 15.84%.

Contracts Pending Month To Date

Month To Date there have been 96 contracts pending (listings under contract).  Based on sales velocity, August might end with 186 Contracts Pended (listings under contract).  Last year, there were 247 Contracts Pending.  Based on sales velocity Contracts Pended in August of 2008 will be down -24.69%.

Closed Sales Month To Date

Month To Date there have been 79 closed sales.  The Average Closed Sold Price is $364,123.  Average Number Of Days On Market for Closed Sales during this period is 48 days. The Average List Price to Sales Price Percentage/Ratio = 96.5%

Last year during the same time period there were almost 162 Closed Sales.  The Average Price = $367,011.  Average Number Of Days On Market for closed Sales during this period = 51 days.  The Average List Price to Sales Price Percentage/Ratio = 98.2%

Keep in mind that real estate is hyper-local.  These figures represent the average for properties in every Village, every age, style, design, amenity, square footage, etc.  For hyper accurate and up to the moment information, contact your favorite Realtor Icon and ask for a neighborhood analysis.

If you have questions, comments or concerns, you can always call me:  Ken Brand 832-797-1779

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Houston Real Estate Market for July 2008

Houston Real Estate Market Report July YTD 2008 Single-family home salesDespite Houstons economy, we are not immune to the national psychological recession.  

The Houston residential real estate market is experiencing a return to a market we experienced right before it reached its peak in 2007. Our market is emulating 2005, which at the time was the greatest market Houston had ever seen.  In fact, most of the current metrics are better than 2005. 
Despite a robust economy blessed with energy, oil, a world-renown medical center and a nationally strategic port, the nation is experiencing a psychological recession and Houston is not immune. The constant barrage of negative national economic news has affected everyones psyche and made people feel insecure about the future. And yet, there is very little basis for it. 
 
While job cuts, corporate restructuring, higher gas prices and a bear market are unfortunate and depressing, the American Free Enterprise system has always experienced periods of eliminating waste and reorganization to move to a higher level of productivity in the future.  We rarely hear the good news that our economy is strong and the unemployment rate is low in comparison to other historical periods of adjustment. And thats the most unfortunate because it affects the economy. There is no basis for Houstonto experience the current market other than we cannot inoculate ourselves from the psychological recession.

We are lucky to live, work and play in Houston, and if you like population growth, think of an overlay the size of the city of Los Angeles coming to Houston in the next decade. Theres a huge real estate opportunity waiting to happen.  Houston is the fourth largest city in the United States, located in a culturally diverse metropolitan region, which is home to 5.6 million residents. The city is growing at twice the national pace. It has one of the lowest costs of living, an educated workforce and is home to 88 consulates, which is a testament to its international influence.

For a concise picture of the Houston economy, go to www.houston.org/rankings and you will find 26 national publication rankings of first place in job growth, business climate, health care and lower cost of living. The factors ranked are key drivers of any real estate market, and one of the reasons that despite a temporary slow down, Houston still boasts a positive median and average sales price. It also indicates that today is probably the best time to invest in real estate in Houston.

Real Estate Reality
July YTD 2008

%Yr. Ago07

July YTD 2005

% Yr. Ago04

2008 vs. 2005
# Sales YTD June

37,038

-12%

37,645

9%

-1.64%
Dollar Volume Sales

$7.855B

-10%

$7,011B

12%

+12%
Avg. Sales Price

$212,085

3%

$186,258

5%

13.8%
Median Price

$154,000

1%

$140,000

4%

+.10%
Avg. Days on Market

84

10%

82

-1%

2.44%
Pending contracts

27,215

-13%

27,087

12%

4.725%
# of Listings

35,700

3%

30,672

6%

16.4%

This year could close out  the same or slightly above the third greatest year in residential history, 2005 based on the similar number of sales found July YTD 2008 as those found in July YTD 2005 and a 4.725% higher number of units pending this year than those found in 2005.  We are currently experiencing a more positive real estate market than 2005 in terms of higher dollar volume sold, higher average sales price, higher median sales price and more pending contracts July YTD in comparison to July YTD 2005. 

Jobs, interest rates and favorable home prices drive real estate, so we have an economy poised to not only absorb the additional inventory, but to move beyond previous growth cycles and set new record

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Real Estate Market Report – The Woodlands, Tx – July 2008, by Ken Brand

by Ken Brand, Sales Manager - Prudential Gary Greene, Realtors / The Woodlands TX / Cell: 832-797-1779 on July 24, 2008

Bull, Bear, Bison or Lion?

All.

Download detailed reports HERE.

Bull – Prices are not declining. Real estate economists believe that 6 months of For Sale inventory represents a balanced market.  In The Woodlands, TX, according to Houston Association of Realtors, Multiple Listings Service Statistics, the inventory has never climbed above 5 months.  It’s a Seller’s Market.

Sellers: With the correct merchandising, positioning and marketing, you can push the price envelope.

Buyers: When you find something you really like or love, jump on it.  In The Woodlands,  screaming steals or deals are as rare as wild white bison.

Realtor Icons: Listings Inventory is worth chasing.  Invest your time, money and energy to position, merchandise and market like gorilla glue sticks, you win, your clients win.

Bear: Interest rates are likely to climb.  Prices are likely to climb like healthy vines. Waiting won’t fix it, act now.

Bison: Don’t follow the thundering herd.  What we read and watch, all the negative  news media reported, about the real estate market is true for some cities, it is not accurate for The Woodlands Area and Greater Houston.  Real Estate is local.  Here are the facts.

Lion: Buying or selling – Arm yourself with facts.  Choose a savvy, hard working, service oriented Realtor to guide you through the real estate jungle.  Wild success can be had, not for lambs, for lions.

You can download the entire report in .PDF format – Click HERE.

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