Shoppers love a bargain whether they’re buying fuel, clothing or homes and bargain prices on real estate are bringing smart buyers back into the market. Most experts agree that we are still several months away from being “out of the woods” in regards to housing but the signs of recovery that we are looking for are beginning to be seen more and more frequently and I find this very encouraging.
Here’s some good news just out today…
According to the National Association of Realtors, the number of existing homes sold in December rose 6.5% over November sales. That’s a healthy increase and an indicator that buyers are gaining confidence.
As a result of the December sales increase the number of homes available on the market has decreased by 11.7% to 3.68 million. That’s still a huge inventory, but if the market can continue to support December’s pace it will take 9.3 months to sell off the existing inventory compared to the 11.2 months suggested by November sales numbers and as we know, the faster that inventory shrinks the sooner prices can stabilize.
More encouraging news… As Geoff Thompson has frequently mentioned in his blog posts, “the coasts will lead us out of the real estate downturn”. Historically we know this is true and the positive December sales numbers reflect a surge in home sales in the West! Sales of existing homes in the west surged 13.6%. This is exactly the kind of news we’re watching for.
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About David Goldstein — David Goldstein is an Owner and Founding Partner of Colibri Real Estate, LLC. which operates online education providers Colibri Real Estate, Insurance License Express and License Tutor. Follow him on Twitter.
