We are in the midst of a summer heat wave, day after day of 90+ readings on the thermometer. The market on the other hand is not so sizzling. Don’t get me wrong, I am thankful for the activity in our area and I am especially thankful to have had a good year so far. The market this year has been interesting. Sales are down, but at the same time, inventory is down. Normally you would expect to see inventory of available home rise as sales slowed but for us it has been just the opposite. As of today the number of available listings in Boulder County is roughly the same as it was back in Mid March, just before the crux of the spring surge of listings. It is also interesting that the number of homes that are under contract compare to that same time frame. In fact the percentage of current listings that are under contract has been in a very tight range 22% – 25% since march. Currently 22.7% of active listings are under contract. Even though there have been fewer closings, the market for homes available has been pretty good.
All of the bad news about the economy, lack of credit and housing market trouble is affecting how people are feeling about selling their home. Many people are delaying putting their homes on the market until next year. Others who have not been able to sell are renting their homes out with plans on trying again next year. Time on the market has increased. Although I don’t really trust this statistic right now because of all of the re-listing of properties. A re-list is when an agent takes a home temporarily (could be within 1 hour) off the market only to enter the listing anew to the MLS. This gives the listing a new MLS # and re-starts the days on the market ticker. This loophole is currently being tied up. Last month at the IRES (our regional MLS) Board of Managers meeting (I am one of 3 representatives from the Boulder Area) we voted to establish a cumulative days-on-the-market ticker. The days on market would continue to tick even if the home was re-listed. The only way we will be able to re-start the ticker will be to take the home off of the market for at least 30 days. After this goes into effect we can then again start to report on actual days to sale. I look forward to it.
Stay cool!
