Front Lines

Things were a bit slower in May but June was a very robust month in the market.  The single family market saw inventory increase from 62 in April and 41 in March to 71 in May, then drop back down to 56 in June.  This is less than the 72 homes available in June of 2011.   The number of sales was consistent with 39 homes coming under contract in June compared to 32 in April, 33 in May and 33 in June of 2011.    The average list price of what has sold stands at 528,102, up from last year’s (total year) of 501,725.   The average Days on Market increased to 43 from 23 in April and 32 in May but still well down from June of 2011 where it stood at 62.   So while we may be turning our single family inventory over in just over 30 days, with 56 available and 39 sales in a month we have an absorption rate of over just about 1 1/2 months.  The townhome market is looking stronger than the single family home market.  The average Days on Market is 27, up slightly from last month’s 26 and the exact same as June of 2011.  68 townhomes came under contract in the month of June, 10 more than the 58 we sold in May and 9 more than the 59 in April but still not the 76 we saw in March.  It is also down from last May’s 86 but ahead of last June’s 61.   I attribute that to the decrease in available inventory.  Currently there are 49 townhomes available, up from 36 in April but well down from the 72 we had in June of 2011.  So townhomes are turning over in less than 30 days and there is less than a month’s worth of inventory on the market.  The average LIST price of the townhomes that have come under contract so far this year is 296,675 which is up from the 288,486 average for all of 2011.  Another bright spot is that the number of distressed properties (short sales and foreclosures) is still way down from last year with only 8 spread across all the pricing categories!