In January I sent a letter I called 'State of the Market' to all of my clients (you can access a copy here). At that time we were at the early stage of the financial crisis and were being bombarded by negative headlines about the real estate market and the overall economic conditions. It has been a very eventful six months since then so I thought it would be worthwhile reviewing that newsletter and updating you on today's state of the market.


In my last state of the market I commented about the fact that inventory had decreased by 30% from its high in April 2008, "Although the level of demand is typically low heading into the holiday season, a relatively small change in demand would have a significant positive influence on the pace of the market given the current supply level". That's exactly what has happened, the current inventory level of single family homes is 3,404 listings, roughly half as many homes as were on the market last year. There is now just 2 months of supply of listings compared with about 9 months supply in January.


The pace of home sales has increased every month this year to 1,837 single family and 738 condo sales last month - up about 30% from June 2008.


With the increased pace of sales prices have increased too. The average sale price of a single family home last month was $447,142 - UP 7.1% year-to-date. The average for condo sales last month was $285,595 - UP 3.8% year-to-date. This performance both in terms of price and the number of sales is far better than many people would have predicted at the start of the year.


If you've been waiting for the market conditions to improve before putting your home up for sale, this summer may be your window of opportunity to move up. Call me today to discuss the marketing and sale of your home.


Does this mean the buyer's market is over? It's true that things have changed quite a bit over the past six months, but there are still terrific opportunities to be had for the educated buyer with a good plan and a professional buyer's agent. If you're considering a purchase please get in touch with me so we can develop a plan to get you the best value on a home that's perfect for you.



Remember - download my July 2009 client newsletter here. The full newsletter includes featured properties, current mortgage rates and an update from Crazy House staging and Arthur Chocholacek from Investors Group.