According to the media, the housing market is back right? Not so fast, while 2012 was a tremendous improvement from previous years we have a long way to go before we can call the housing market “stable” again. Maybe the best news is inventory is currently down 30% and the current months supply of inventory is less than four months compared to nearly six months a year ago.
Here are some positive signs and my thoughts:
Median Sales Price 2012 = $240,000
Median Sales Price in 2011 = $219,700
Up 10%
Does this mean my house is worth 10% more than last year?
Absolutely not! While the “median sales price” may be up 10% this doesn’t mean home values have increased the same amount. The spike in median home prices is due to an increase in upper bracket home sales and the lower end of the market seeing less homes for sale. All good news, but not the thousands of dollars in equity everyone hoped to gain in 2012.
Closed Sales in 2012 = 1,110
Closed Sales in 2011 = 999
Up 11%
Record low interest rates have pushed buyers off the fence this year. We will continue to see a slight increase in 2013 if interest rates remain low.
