Sarah ‘Krebsy’ Adams Reads Charles Dickens

The oft repeated phrase from Charles Dickens “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…”* holds sway for October real estate. The good news, of course, as the numbers show, is that there were 1,000+ new sales in our four-county region versus a year ago. The somewhat devastating news, however, was that prices were down almost 11 percent in the entire NWMLS region, which is a bazillion counties. “I knew the median price would take a hit in October because the ‘temporary’ loan limit for conventional financing dropped back down from $567,600 to $506,000…” stated OB Jacobi of Windermere. Joe Spencer from John L. Scott put the price decrease in an interesting light when he attributed much of the decline to a combination of factors, including the influence of distressed properties. Inventory is continuing to decline in most areas, as well.

* A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, published 1859. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”

Paul and the ‘Burbs’

I live in the ‘burbs’ with my family (oh, is it legal for me to say ‘family’ in this blog?) and so, I’m always interested when planners tell me, and the audience, that the swing toward denser, multifamily, attached living is increasing all the time and will not and cannot be stopped. Except that’s not what all the stats say.  A recent study covering 2010 by the American Community Survey suggests the opposite. As the chart shows, the percentage increased in detached homes in the U.S. increased by about 4%, the percentage increases for attached (duplexes, etc.) increased just under a half point, and the increase in multi-unit (apartments, condos) just over 0.5. We will watch this in the future. With housing starts slowing down, and apartment construction on the rise, it will be interesting to see if this trend changes very much.