Gail n Greg - Your Agents @ The Beach

SUSSEX COUNTY - MAY ACTIVITY STATS ARE IN !!!

May, 2012 marks the end of the housing recession in Sussex County!!!  Single Family Home (SFH) closings came in at 221.  I had to go back to August of 2007 to find a single month with closings over 200 SFH properties.  Just to put things into perspective, the AVERAGE number of monthly closings in all of 2006 were 228.  More good news, the average selling price in May jumped to $359,923.  That's up from under $300K in January through April.  The YTD average is now up to just over $300K to $301,345.  So beach properties are starting to participate in the upturn in activity.  Sellers took a little more of a beating on price however getting only 91.8% of their asking price (asking price at time of contract).  That's down from a high of 93.7% in April.  More good news, inventory came down in May to 2,757 SFH properties bringing the absorption rate (average monthly sales divided by inventory) to a YTD low of 17.6 months.  Inventory is still higher than the year end 2011 by 4.3%.  More good news, SFH properties under contract waiting to close went up from 532 at the end of April to 544 at the end of May.  This means we're going to have another block buster month of closings in June.  So that brings us to 130% YTD vs. the same period last year in terms of closings.  It's all good news.  More good news, interest rates came down even further to 3.5% on a 30 year fixed for a primary home and as low as 2.675% for a 7 year adjustable mortgage.  That's almost free money!!  Investors are having a field day.

The Condo/Townhouse (C/T) news is even better.  Closings are up 36.4% YTD vs. last year same period.  There were 100 reported closings in May (78.6% more than May of 2011), way above the 67 YTD average.  Inventory fell to a multi year low of just 13.7 months supply or 903 listings.  Unfortunately, properties under contract dropped as well to only 151 units so June will probably not be so robust as May was in terms of closings.  The average selling price of a C/T was $318,020, well above the YTD average of $295,199.  Sellers got 94.7% of their asking price which is pretty good.  Hopefully we're on our way to a housing recovery in Sussex County.

Call us for details or a free estimate of your home's worth in today's market if you're not already working with a real estate professional.

As always, if you have any questions or want more information regarding this material please contact me directly by phone or email.  Remember, these figures are calculated daily through my analysis of the Sussex County MLS and are totally dependant on the accuracy thereof.  Many Builders do not report sales to this MLS nor do For Sale By Owners.  Also, our MLS service allows some other Counties to input data to ours and I try hard to make sure those numbers don't get into my analysis.  Actual closing dates may not coincide with mine exactly as some agents take longer than others to load closings into the MLS.  I report daily so my cut off is the last day of the month/year.  If they report several days later, it will show up in my data for the next month/year.  This analysis is intended to be used directionally, not literally.

SUSSEX COUNTY REAL ESTATE ACTIVITY - APRIL 2012

Well, hope you made it through tax season in good shape.  April brought us another good month in real estate here in the county.  Still only lack luster results near the beach as the average selling price of a home clearly points out.  First Single Family Homes - 152 SFHs closed in April, 29% more than April 2011.  This is the fourth strait month of double digit increases over last year and we're a solid 30% ahead of 2011 Year to Date.  A lot of homes came back on the market however which drove inventory up finishing almost 5% up from year end 2011 with 2,771 SFHs listed for sale.  With our current trailing 6 month average closing rate of 148 SFHs, that leaves us with 18.7 months worth of inventory (absorption rate).  This is up slightly from the 17.8 at the end of 2011 but down from the 19.0 at the end of 2010.  The really good news is that the properties Under Contract jumped way up from 442 at the end of March to 532 at the end of April.  This bodes well for good closing months in May and June.  May and June were the two biggest months last year with 184 and 189 closings respectively.  Sellers got 93.7% of their asking price at the time of contract which is the highest so far this year and has been trending up every month.  This is a sign that Sellers are not having to negotiate as hard to get a contract.  The average selling price is still concerning as it stayed below $300K for the fourth consecutive month, something that has never happened since I've been keeping records back to 2006.  April's average selling price came in at $291,921 (the highest so far this year) bringing the YTD average up to only $278,020.  I find this astonishing.  I have seen some big ticket sales coming in already this month (May) so perhaps this trend line is breaking. 

Condo/Towns - April became the best closing month of the year so far for C/Ts with 73 recorded closings (up 30.4% from April 2011 and 36.4% YTD).  Inventory went up only slightly from 928 at the end of March to 935 by April 30th.  This is up 3.4% from year end 2011.  Under Contracts were up modestly from 162 at the end of March to 170 at the end of April.  Sellers got 93% of their asking price, down slightly from the YTD average of 93.6%.  The average closing price of a C/T was actually higher than SFHs at $310,055, also the highest level of the year.  Interest rates are still great and 2012 is shaping up to be the beginning of the real estate come-back

As always, if you have any questions or want more information regarding this material please contact me directly by phone or email.  Remember, these figures are calculated daily through my analysis of the Sussex County MLS and are totally dependant on the accuracy thereof.  Many Builders do not report sales to this MLS nor do For Sale By Owners.  Also, our MLS service allows some other Counties to input data to ours and I try hard to make sure those numbers don't get into my analysis.  Actual closing dates may not coincide with mine exactly as some agents take longer than others to load closings into the MLS.  I report daily so my cut off is the last day of the month/year.  If they report several days later, it will show up in my data for the next month/year.  This analysis is intended to be used directionally, not literally.

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THE MARCH NUMBERS ARE IN - SUSSEX COUNTY REAL ESTATE ACTIVITY

Wow!!  All the indicators for March were fantastic with the exception of one, the average selling price.  Once again, (three months in a row now) the average selling price of a SFH in Sussex County came in under $300K at $282,724, that's down from February's $287,484.  So now the Q1 average selling price for a SFH in Sussex County is $272,777.  I don't know how long ago it's been since that happened, it certainly pre-dates any statistics I've been keeping since 2006.  Of course this doesn't mean that property values have dropped that much, only that more homes in that price range are selling vs. the expensive properties.  But there is plenty of good news.  March closings came in at 127% of March, 2011 which catapulted the Q1 YTD number to 130% of Q1, 2011.  There have been a total of 403 SFH closings so far this year compared to 309 by the same time last year.  This is indeed good news.  Seller's got the highest % of listing price (at time of contract) so far this year at 93.5%.  More good news, inventory came down in March to 2,669 SFHs on the market from 2,687 and remains only .9% higher than inventory at the end of December 2011.  Properties under contract is also at the highest level of the year at 442.  This is our only leading indicator of real estate activity so the future looks good!!

Condo/Townhouse activity looks good too with closings being up 39% from Q1 last year with 163 total closings reported to the MLS.  The average selling price is also down for this group to the lowest level of the year at $266,409.  Seller's got 94.9% of their asking price and inventory went down slightly to 928 from 954 and units under contract jumped way up from 120 at the end of February to 162 at the end of March.  I think this clearly indicates that the bottom is in for Sussex County real estate and we're on our way back to finding a new normal.

As always, if you have any questions or want more information regarding this material please contact me directly by phone or email.  Remember, these figures are calculated daily through my analysis of the Sussex County MLS and are totally dependant on the accuracy thereof.  Many Builders do not report sales to this MLS nor do For Sale By Owners.  Also, our MLS service allows some other Counties to input data to ours and I try hard to make sure those numbers don't get into my analysis.  Actual closing dates may not coincide with mine exactly as some agents take longer than others to load closings into the MLS.  I report daily so my cut off is the last day of the month/year.  If they report several days later, it will show up in my data for the next month/year.  This analysis is intended to be used directionally, not literally.

SALES STATISTICS - SUSSEX COUNTY - FEBRUARY 2012

Real Estate sales continued their winning ways in February keeping with the very positive momentum coming out of a horrible 2011.  In terms of Single Family Homes (SFH), there were 128 closings recorded in the MLS, up almost 35% from February of last year.  If you remember, January finished 31% ahead of last January so we're off to a great start.  Inventory did creep up by 1% in February over the December close but this is quite normal due to all of the listing coming off over the holidays and now coming back on for the Spring selling season.  The MLS recorded 2,687 SFHs listed as active as of February 29th.  Based on the trailing 6 month closing avg. per month we now have about a 18.3 month supply of inventory.  This is actually up a little over 1/2 of a % from last month due to more properties coming on the market.  Sellers received 92.2% of their asking price at time of contract (not original asking price).  This is right in line with the 2011 full year average.  Properties under contract at the end of February also went up from 332 to 378 from January which is a very good sign this increase closing trend will continue.  There is one not so good statistic for Sellers of higher end properties and that is the fact that for the second month in a row, the average selling price of a SFH came in under $300K at $287,484 (YTD is $266,494).  That is somewhat astonishing.  It has never happened in the almost 6 years I've been keeping records.  The 12 month average last year was $343,428 which was the lowest average of any year since I've been keeping records.  I've never seen so many properties being sold for under $100K.  Obviously most of these are West of the beach areas but it still strikes me as odd.  If you're a Buyer, you have to be aware of all of the "distressed properties" coming on the market now.  If you have a long time horizon and a lot of patience, you can spend days shopping the "short sale" market.  I'm seeing more and more foreclosures coming out of the "shadow market" than ever.  I get emails every other day now announcing more foreclosures.  In 2011, I was getting them about once every couple or three weeks, not a good situation for Sellers.  There are communities like Bayside in Selbyville that are predominately distressed sales when it comes to re-sales.  The Builders are having to deal with that issue too.  Hey, interest rates are still great.

Condo/Townhouses (C-TH) - There were 51 recorded closings in February vs. only 31 last February.  That's a 64.5% increase on top of a 12/2% increase in January.  While these are relatively small numbers, it's a great sign condos are making a recovery.  Condos have a lot of head winds in front of them with Lenders making it very hard to buy them.  Inventory went up slightly by the end of February to 954 (from 924 in January) and is up 5.5% from the end of December, 2011.  The average selling price of a condo was $279,275 (also very low by historical standards).  Sellers got 93.5% of their asking price at time of contract.  Properties under contract stayed about the same as at the end of January at 120 (vs. 122 in Jan.).  Sales rate for the trailing 6 months puts us at a 17.4 month supply.

As always, if you have any questions or want more information regarding this material please contact me directly by phone or email.  Remember, these figures are calculated daily through my analysis of the Sussex County MLS and are totally dependant on the accuracy thereof.  Many Builders do not report sales to this MLS nor do For Sale By Owners.  Also, our MLS service allows some other Counties to input data to ours and I try hard to make sure those numbers don't get into my analysis.  Actual closing dates may not coincide with mine exactly as some agents take longer than others to load closings into the MLS.  I report daily so my cut off is the last day of the month/year.  If they report several days later, it will show up in my data for the next month/year.  This analysis is intended to be used directionally, not literally.

JANUARY REAL ESTATE ACTIVITY IN SUSSEX COUNTY

Finally, a solid closing month.  January 2012 finished 31% ahead of January 2011 in terms of Single Family Home (SFH) properties closed with 119 vs. 91 respectively.  Inventory ticked up only slightly from year end 2011, up 6 tenths of 1% or 2,659 SFHs actively listed.  Properties under contract at the end of January were up also from 305 at the end of December 2011 to 332.  There is one amazing fact however, and that is that the average closing price of a SFH in January was $244,000.  I went back into my records as far as I have them (2005) and found only two other months where the avg. closing price dropped below $300K, one was March of last year where it dropped to $282K and one was back in 2009 (also January) where it dropped to $280K.  I have noticed since the first of the year, many closings of SFHs under $100K.  I don't know if these are investors buying up fixer-upper properties,if it's first time home buyers, people who have been renting and can now afford to buy or all of the above.  I'm sure this low average is due more to the fact that cheaper homes are being bought rather than just price declines.  It also means that the "higher end" buyers are sitting it out right now.  Just to gain perspective, the avg. closing price of all of last year was $343,428 or almost 30% higher.  Also, Sellers got only 90.8% of their asking price at time of contract.  The average for 2011 was 92.2.  Interest rates for a 30 year fixed are under 4%.  That's money with a hat on it.

Condo/Towns (C/Ts) - came in ahead of last year also by 12.2% or 46 closings reported vs. only 41 last January.  Inventory crept up 2.2% from year end to 924 active listings reported to our MLS.  Under Contract went up a little also to 122 properties.  The average closing price of a C/T was actually significantly higher than SFHs at $281K.  Sellers got 93.3% of their asking price.  So all-in-all we're off to a pretty good start to 2012.

As always, if you have any questions or want more information regarding this material please contact me directly by phone or email.  Remember, these figures are calculated daily through my analysis of the Sussex County MLS and are totally dependant on the accuracy thereof.  Many Builders do not report sales to this MLS nor do For Sale By Owners.  Also, our MLS service allows some other Counties to input data to ours and I try hard to make sure those numbers don't get into my analysis.  Actual closing dates may not coincide with mine exactly as some agents take longer than others to load closings into the MLS.  I report daily so my cut off is the last day of the month/year.  If they report several days later, it will show up in my data for the next month/year.  This analysis is intended to be used directionally, not literally.

YEAR END 2011 - REAL ESTATE ACTIVITY IN SUSSEX COUNTY

Happy New Year!!!  Real estate finished strong (relatively speaking) in Q4 of 2011, 13% ahead of Q4-2010.  Total annual dollar sales were approx. $610,958,000 in Single Family Home (SFH) closings.  That was an increase of 3% of total dollar volume in all of 2010 (+5.2% in closing transactions).  Total dollar volume in 2006 was around $1.1 billion.  There were a total of 1,779 SFH closings reported to the MLS this year or an average of 148 per month.  The average selling price of a SFH in 2011 was $343,428, down 2.1% from last year and almost dead even with 2009.  By comparison, the average selling price of a SFH in 2007 was $406,000.  Sellers averaged 92.2% of their asking price at time of contract, down slightly from 92.8% last year.  Inventory at the end of this year was 2,644 SFH units, down 1.3% from the end of December 2010.  This was the first time this year inventory was negative vs. last year.  There were 106 expired listings at the end of December so many of those will come back on the market before the spring selling season begins.  The bottom line is that inventory continues to be a problem for Sellers and re-sale prices continue to slide.  Many Builders do not report sales to our MLS and many of the sales this year were new construction.  NV/Ryan Homes claims that they represented half of the new construction homes sold in Sussex County in 2011 and they do not report sales to our MLS.  At the current average monthly sales rate, our current absorption rate (total inventory divided by avg. monthly sales) sits at 17.8, still way to high to expect much pricing stability.  Many new construction developments are holding pricing and reducing incentives so this will hopefully help re-sales.  Interest rates are still great, around 3.875% for a 30 year fixed.  All in all, a good finish to the year.  We hope it is a trend that will continue into 2012.

Condo/Townhouse (C/T)  sales continued to languish right to the end of the year finishing at just 97% of 2010 in number of closings (613 vs 631 last year) and just 87.5% of total dollar sales ($182,174,000 vs $208,241,300).  Average selling prices were down 9.9% from 2010 at $297,184 vs $330,018 last yer.  Sellers got 94% of their asking price at the time of contract vs. 93.3% last year.  Just to show you how bad this is, in 2007 (the peak year) there were 1,077 closings for a total of $422,891,000 in sales and Sellers got 96% of their asking price.  Inventory at the end of 2011 was down almost 13% from the end of 2010 at 904 C/Ts listed for sale, the lowest level of the year.  The fourth quarter of 2011 did however show good momentum finishing up 12% from Q4 of 2010. Hopefully this momentum will carry over into 2012.  It has become much harder to buy a condo however, than in the past.  Lenders are being very difficult when it comes to condos (especially as a second home or investment property).  Prices have really come down because of that however, so it's great for those Buyers who can get loans or have cash.  For contrast, in 2007 the average selling price of a C/T was $392,656 and in 2011 it was $297,184 or almost 25% less.  C/T prices were actually down a full 10% in 2011 from 2010.  The good news is that the economy is showing signs of improvement and unemployment is ticking down (albeit ever so slowly).  Barring any major disaster, 2012 should be the turn-around year for real estate.  Buyers, right now could be your best shot at a "bottom" in real estate.

As always, if you have any questions or want more information regarding this material please contact me directly by phone or email.  Remember, these figures are calculated daily through my analysis of the Sussex County MLS and are totally dependant on the accuracy thereof.  Many Builders do not report sales to this MLS nor do For Sale By Owners.  Also, our MLS service allows some other Counties to input data to ours and I try hard to make sure those numbers don't get into my analysis.  Actual closing dates may not coincide with mine exactly as some agents take longer than others to load closings into the MLS.  I report daily so my cut off is the last day of the month/year.  If they report several days later, it will show up in my data for the next month/year.  This analysis is intended to be used directionally, not literally.

REAL ESTATE ACTIVITY FOR NOVEMBER, 2011 - SUSSEX COUNTY

Time for real estate to go to sleep for the winter?  Let's hope not.   November activity was a real mixed bag.  When comparing to last year, one must remember that November was one of the slowest closing months of the year.  Having said that, there were 167 SFH closings  this November compared to 130 last year or a 28.5% increase.  This is the third strait month showing closing increases vs. last year bringing YTD sales to 104.9% of last year.  Hey, that's good news.  The other good news is that inventory dropped for the 4th strait month to hit the lowest level since January of this year.  Its still 4.4% higher than end of December 2010 but showing signs of progress.  Many listings do withdraw at the end of November in anticipation of the holidays and the slow winter selling season.  The average selling price of a SFH in November dropped significantly below the YTD average to $314,400 (YTD avg. is $343,355) and Seller's got 91.1% of their asking price at time of contract.  That too is below the YTD average of 92.1%.  As I said, inventory dropped at the end of the month to 2,795 homes well below the monthly average of 2,933.  SFHs under contract also dropped at month's end to 343, down from 388 at the end of October.  December, 2010 was a pretty good "closing month" last year but hopefully December, 2011 will continue to show strength and keep us ahead of last year.  There are many signs that this market is starting to move in the right direction.  Interest rates are still at around 4%.  Let's hope Europe can get their act together and instill some confidence in the Buying public.

Condo/Towns (C/Ts) had a good month in November as well finishing 30% ahead of November, 2010 with 48 closings recorded and "under contracts" up to 128 vs. 120 in October.  Inventory dropped by 2.5% and is now 7.5% below the December 2010 level.  Average selling price of a condo in November was up slightly from October to $307,354 and slightly above the YTD average of $299,481.  Sellers got 94% of their asking price which is in line with the YTD average.  C/T closings still lag behind last year by about 4% and December 2010 was a big closing month for C/Ts with 56.  There are some great buys on condos out there now if you can get a loan.  Here's to a strong finish for 2011.

As always, if you have any questions or want more information regarding this material please contact me directly by phone or email.  Remember, these figures are calculated daily through my analysis of the Sussex County MLS and are totally dependant on the accuracy thereof.  Many Builders do not report sales to this MLS nor do For Sale By Owners.  Also, our MLS service allows some other Counties to input data to ours and I try hard to make sure those numbers don't get into my analysis.  Actual closing dates may not coincide with mine exactly as some agents take longer than others to load closings into the MLS.  I report daily so my cut off is the last day of the month/year.  If they report several days later, it will show up in my data for the next month/year.  This analysis is intended to be used directionally, not literally.

SUSSEX COUNTY REAL ESTATE ACTIVITY FOR OCTOBER & YTD

Well that was a pain and a distraction (the knee surgery).  Sorry for the delay in getting back to business.  I was particularly excited to get October logged as it was a good real estate month in almost all respects, the first one in many months.  First of all, we finished October with 156 SFH closings (2.6% ahead of October 2010) and the third highest close month this year (July being the highest with 171 and April with 163).  The average selling price was also up in October to the third highest level of the year at $362,000, well above the YTD average of $347,000.  Sellers also received the highest percentage of sales price to listing price (listing price at time of contract) so far this year  at 93.3%.  The YTD average is 92.2%.  Inventory dropped by the end of October by almost 3% from the end of September and the lowest level since February.  There were 2,860 SFHs listed for sale at the end of October.  SFHs under contract were up to the highest level of the year at 388 at the end of the month.  So all systems were go by the end of October with the closings in October thrusting us to 102.6% of this same time last year.  Inventory is still running high at 6.8% above the end of December, 2010 but trending down from a high in May of 14.9% above year end 2010.  All signs point to a good close in Q4 of 2011.

Condo/Townhouse closings also increased in October, 2011 over same time last year (by 5%).  64 units were reported closed to the MLS with an average selling price of $301,219 and almost 95% of asking price.  Inventory continued to come down in October and now sits almost 5% less than at the end of 2010.  Units under contract remained steady at 120, one above last month and well above tha YTD average of 103.  It wasn't enough to get us ahead of last year as we now sit at 93.9% of last YTD sales.  Still a lot of work to do in regards to condos.

SUSSEX COUNTY REAL ESTATE ACTIVITY FOR SEPTEMBER & YTD

Single Family Homes (SFH) Sales - September finished strong at 119% of September 2010 helping to push Q3 to 103% of Q3, 2010 and the year to date results to 102.7% of last year same time.  A total of 151 SFHs closed in September which is the exact same amount as August bringing the total closed SFHs to 1,293 for the year or an average of 144 per month.  Unfortunately, there were 325 listing events keeping the inventory at high levels, up 10% from the end of 2010.  The encouraging news is that inventory dropped 2.2% from September and SFHs under contract at the end of the month rose from 364 to 370 so October should be a good closing month (relatively speaking).  The average selling price of a SFH in September was $330,834, down a little from September and down from the YTD average of $344,863. Seller's received 91.8%, slightly below the YTD average of 92%.  Remember, this is the % of selling price vs. the listing price at the time of contract (not the original listing price).  Until this inventory come down, prices will continue to drop.  Based on the avg. monthly closing rate divided into the current inventory (absorption rate), Sussex County is sitting on a 20.5 month supply of SFH real estate.  That is considerably higher than the national average.  Let's take a quick look at last year in regards to sales price vs. previous years.  I started keeping records in 2006 when the average closing price was $403,852.  Prices then peaked in 2007 at $405,919.  The two biggest drops occurred in 2008 and 2009 when the avg. dropped to $379,227 and $344,530.  That's a 6.6% and a 9.1% drop respectively.  In 2010, the average actually went up by 1.8% to $350,856 which we have now lost in YTD 2011.

Condo/Townhouses (C/Ts) - After a good August, September came in at an anemic 87.3% of September 2010 bringing the YTD closings to only 92.5% of last year, same time.  There were only 48 closings recorded in September.  To add insult to injury, inventory went up by the end of September to 994 from 980 at the end of August.  Also, properties under contract dropped from 130 in August to only 119 by the end of September.  The average selling price of a C/T in September was near the lows for the year at $295,896, way below the 2007 peak of $392,656 (a full 25%).  Sellers did however receive almost 95% of their asking price at time of contract.  The condo problem in large part stems from the oppressive lending requirements now in place for condo ownership.  Condo fees continue to rise also due to the new DUCIOA rules that were put in place last September by the State.  Those rules forced C/T communities to do an engineering study to determine what the life expectancy is for all the common elements of the community including roofs, siding, other structural elements and common area maintenance.  After this study is completed, the association must start accruing money to fund these costs over time.  The purpose of course is to eliminate the need to force large assessments on the current owners.  I've heard of some older developments assessing their owners as much as $25,000 to replace siding and porches etc.  You can imagine your dismay if you had just bought into the community.  It's a good rule but the consequence is higher fees.  Investors tend not to like this as they tend to move in and out of communities more frequently and don't much care to help pay for a roof that may not need replacement for 20 years.  I believe it to be a fair way to run a condo community.

At any rate Buyers, your still firmly in control and should be taking advantage of one of the best Buyer's market in many, many years.  The stars are all aligned, interest rates, much lower prices and high inventory.  Get off the fence and BUY!!  We did.

As always, if you have any questions or want more information regarding this material please contact me directly by phone or email.  Remember, these figures are calculated daily through my analysis of the Sussex County MLS and are totally dependant on the accuracy thereof.  Many Builders do not report sales to this MLS nor do For Sale By Owners.  Also, our MLS service allows some other Counties to input data to ours and I try hard to make sure those numbers don't get into my analysis.  Actual closing dates may not coincide with mine exactly as some agents take longer than others to load closings into the MLS.  I report daily so my cut off is the last day of the month/year.  If they report several days later, it will show up in my data for the next month/year.  This analysis is intended to be used directionally, not literally.

SUSSEX COUNTY REAL ESTATE ACTIVITY IN AUGUST 2011

 HERE'S TO A GOOD FALL SELLING SEASON.

Single Family Homes(SFHs) - Closings came in at 89% of August, 2010 with 151.  This put us almost dead even with last year, January through August, loosing the slight increase we were enjoying at the end of July.  The average closing price of a SFH in August was $336,669, tied with June for the third lowest avg. price this year.  The YTD average selling price is $346,718 which is only 1.2% below the full year 2010 avg. of $350,856.  The average closing price peaked in 2007 at $405,919 (my records only go back to 2006).  This is not soley reflective of home price declines but also price points.  What I mean by that is more lower priced homes selling vs. higher priced homes selling would bring the avg. price down.  Also, many new construction Home Builders do not report sales to our MLS and therefore those prices aren't being captured and they tend to be on the lower side.  Sellers received 92% of their asking price on average (asking price at time of contract, not original asking price).  This is right on the YTD average of 92.1%.  It is encouraging to note that "Under Contract" homes were up at the end of August to the highest level of the year at 364.  Coupled with the end of July "Under Contract" number of 355 would indicate that we are going to have a good closing month in September.  Also, inventories came down 1.3% from July but still represent a 21 months supply based on our current avg. selling rate.  There were 3,003 SFHs actively listed at the time of this writing.  Another statistic interesting to me is the average listing price of a SFH.  In August it was $378,839, the lowest so far this year.  The YTD average listing price is $420,371 or 21% higher than the average selling price.  I don't know how much of that is due to more expensive homes listing and then not selling or how much is due to price declines after listing.  I can tell you from personal experience that our avg. transaction size this year is significantly below last year.  Interest rates have never been better and it sounds like that may be the case for the foreseeable future so perhaps this market is getting ready for a BIG fall selling season.

Condo/Townhouse(C/TH) sales - Things picked up in August for this segment of the market with closing finishing at 111% of last August.  60 closings were recorded by our MLS which brought the YTD closings up to 93% of last YTD.  Inventory came down almost 4% to the lowest level of the year, 980 listed for sale representing a 19.9 month inventory.  Condos under contract were also up in at the end of August to the highest level of the year at 130.  The average closing price of a c/TH dropped to the lowest level of the year at $289,183 compared to the $330,018 full year 2010 average.  Sellers got 94.3% of their asking price at time of contract. As always, if you have any questions regarding the real estate market in Sussex County, feel free to call or email us at any time.

As always, if you have any questions or want more information regarding this material please contact me directly by phone or email.  Remember, these figures are calculated daily through my analysis of the Sussex County MLS and are totally dependant on the accuracy thereof.  Many Builders do not report sales to this MLS nor do For Sale By Owners.  Also, our MLS service allows some other Counties to input data to ours and I try hard to make sure those numbers don't get into my analysis.  Actual closing dates may not coincide with mine exactly as some agents take longer than others to load closings into the MLS.  I report daily so my cut off is the last day of the month/year.  If they report several days later, it will show up in my data for the next month/year.  This analysis is intended to be used directionally, not literally.