1st Quarter Home Sales Report

Why am I always a day behind on the Home Sales Report? Oh yeah, it's all those pesky clients. (Note to clients - ignore previous sentence - you all are the best!) Josh Flory over at Property Scope has already put in his two cents, but I don't think it will hurt if I put in two more.

Let's start, as always, with the good news:

Average condo sales price is up.

Q1 '07 - $214,700

Q1 '08 - $226,000

Average sales price for homes with 4 or more bedrooms is up.

Q1 '07 - $282,100

Q1 '08 - $292,400

The neutral news:

Median condo sales price is the same
Q1 '07- $189,900
Q1 '08- $189,900

The not so great news:

Average sales price for 3 BR homes is down.
Q1 '07 - $169,500
Q1 '08 - $158,300

Median sales price for 3 BR homes is down.

Q1 '07 - $145,500

Q1 '08 - $144,000

Median sales price for homes with 4 or more bedrooms is down.
Q1 '07 - $238,900
Q1 '08 - $229,900

Total number of single family unit sales is down.

Q1 '07 - 3491

Q1 '08 - 2739

Days on market is up.

Q1 '07 - 93

Q1 '08 - 103

And finally, here's the "What the Fudge" news:

Average listing price for new listings is way down.

Feb '07 - $408,300

Feb '08 - $248,300

So, here, yet again, is my not so scientific analysis:

1. The condo market continues to fare better than single family residential homes.

2. Residential sales are still soft*.

3. Folks must have been selling a lot more of those houses most of us can't afford in Q1 '07.

*No need to freak out. Lower average sales price and lower median sales price do not necessarily mean that your personal home has depreciated.