Summit Scoop -- August 2009

The average price for single family homes remained high, while the multi-family and vacant land averages both dropped. This is not surprising, since 42% of the improved residential sales were in the under-$500k price range. The multi-family average price went down to about the same level as 2007, which fits right in with the price reductions we've been seeing from sellers, coupled with the fact that most buyers are only pulling the trigger on the great deals!

Multi Family:

2006 - $333,501

2007 - $406,529

2008 - $463,633

2009 - $404,431 YTD

Vacant Land:

2006 - $311,951

2007 - $391,587

2008 - $470,260

2009 - $271,236 YTD (42 total sales)

As of August 6th, there are 2088 active residential listings in Summit County, and 420 land listings. This is an increase of 2.28% since this time last month overall, and puts our inventory including land at 9.64%. This is a very moderate increase and for the first time in a while the increase in listings was smaller than the number of sales, which is great news!

Our number of Pending properties went up again this month to 225 which is an increase of 25 over this time last month. A high level of buyer activity continues, with 50 properties marked Pending in the last 14 days.

Our foreclosure rate remains extremely low - there were three non-time-share properties that went to auction in July. This back to normal levels after having seven in June (out of 26,000 properties). For comparison, there were 7 properties "cured" or withdrawn from the list in July. We have not seen the windfall of foreclosures that many have predicted. Our low number of foreclosures is one of the many reasons that our market has remained relatively strong. If you'd like to see the county foreclosure list for yourself go to the Summit County Trustee website, where there is a document that details the properties that are currently in the foreclosure process. Also read this helpful article explaining the complexity of the lien process when buying a foreclosure.

What does all of this mean to you?

With real estate activity rising in Summit County, average condo prices back to 2007 levels, inventory starting to stabilize, and national housing news starting to lean towards the positive, does this mean we may be at the bottom? I honestly don't know. But I do know that in the past Summit County has recovered relatively quickly from market slow-downs, because there is pent-up demand and buyers have been waiting on the sidelines. Once they decide to get back in the market, it won't take long for our prices to stabilize along with the inventory. If you are looking for real estate in the county and especially if you plan to rent it to offset your costs, this is the best time of year to do it because you'll close and go right into the ski season.

There are a lot of choices and good opportunities for buyers out there right now. Let me know what you have in mind and I can give you recommendations, or you can Search the Summit County MLS anytime on our website.

To reiterate from past months, for current owners, you should only be considering selling if (1) you really need to, or (2) you want to upgrade in which case this is a perfect time to save a lot on your larger property. Well-priced properties ARE selling so if you need to sell we can talk about strategies you can use to make that happen.

As always, whether you are looking to buy or sell, your individual needs and goals dictate what action you should take at this time given our market conditions.

Either way please let me know what I can do to help.

We have posted an article on our website explaining why the Summit County real estate market is unique.

At Cornerstone Real Estate Company, LLC, we maintain this data in Excel spreadsheets. Thanks to Land Title Guarantee for providing the monthly statistics. Please let us know if you would like a copy of the full set of data and it would be our pleasure to email it to you.