Sarah ‘Krebsy’ Adams Analyzes the Year

Happy New Year! Shown below in two different charts are the MLS 4-county final numbers for 2011 and the previous 11 years. The run down for 2011: Prices are down 11.8% from the previous December (attributed to distressed home sales), but volume was up in December 20% over 2010. The typical winter slow down didn’t seem to be a factor in our market this past year, with Q4 pending sales beating out Q1 by a 21% increase. Inventory is down 30% from a year ago with December’s pending sales exceeding the number of new listings for the second consecutive month. This year’s total pending sales ended up better than the past three years and right in line with 2002 levels. Some positive messages as we perpetuate into the new year, “The outlook for 2012 is the continuation of a strengthening marketplace,” says J. Lennox Scott, CEO and chairman of John L. Scott, and OB Jacobi, president of Windermere, says “Where we’ve been for the past year is a place of transition. It has been a slow recovery, but the housing market has finally turned a corner, albeit a soft one with some bumps along the way.”