Category: Just Sold

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2021 February Real Estate Statistics – The Ups and Downs of it all!

Welcome to the wacky world for real estate and the real estate statistics for February 2021! The past snow storms and the lack of inventory and the pandemic have taken their toll once again.

I invite you to watch my video below.

New Listings

New listings were down -28.5% over this time last year. The new listings on the market in 2021 was only 501 compared to last year’s number of 701.

Closed Sales

Completed or closed sales was down -11.7% . The number of closed sales for February 2021 was 416 compared to last year’s number of 471.

Days on Market

Days on Market (DOM) is a very important number because it tells us how quickly a home is going to sell. For February 2021 the DOM was 23 days! That’s down from 51 DOM last year. And that is a -54.9% change. It’s crazy how quickly a house is selling!

Average Sales Price

The average sales price has risen from $231,473 up to $269,989. That’s a +16.6% increase in prices. It is proof positive that because inventory levels are low and demand is high- that has a positive push on prices. They continue to go up and up!

% of List Price Received

This number tells us how much negotiating power a buyer has. And this number tells us how much a seller should expect to receive on the list price. Houses are selling for 100.4% of the list price. There have been multi offers on most every home and buyers are bing forced to pay list price or more for a property. Not much negotiating room.

Months Supply

When the housing market is level there is about 6 months supply of homes available to be sold. As the months of supply shrinks it becomes a “Sellers’ Market” and as that number of months increase, the market becomes a “Buyers’ Market”. We currently have .7 months supply of homes on the market! That’s another crazy number! It just proves that there is no inventory to buy so everyone is fighting over the same house. This time last year there were 1.7 months supply on the market. That change equates to a -58.8% change.

What This Means for YOU?!?!

If you’re a seller then you can expect to receive multiple offers for your home. You will sell at your list price or higher. And if you’re a buyer? You’ll need to be prepared with a pre-approval and the ability to make a quick decision. My suggestion……start to look at properties which are priced under your pre-approval amount. That way you can bid at list price or you can afford to overbid to be the winning offer.

It’s not an easy market for anyone in real estate; buyers, sellers and agents. You need to work with a professional who will help you get through the process without giving up all of your negotiating power.

If I can help you Sell, Buy or Invest in real estate, please give me a call. My number is 610-417-1174. I look forward to hearing from you!

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What’s selling and What’s not! – here in the Lehigh Valley

Today, I’m going to review the March 2020 Real Estate market reports for the Lehigh Valley. These numbers include the time that the Corona virus started in our area and when many of us were told to stay at home.

First thing to talk about is new listings that came on the market.  As you can see in 2019 there were 959 listings that came on to the market compared to the 722 of March 2020.  That resulted in a whopping -24.7% change!  What this mean to you as a home buyer is that there are less properties to look at in your price range and you have more competition with other active buyers looking to purchase.  As a seller this means that the market is ripe for your to LIST YOUR HOME WITH ME to get it sold.  As a seller you can count on having multiple offers if your house is in good condition and priced right.

Next up is closed sales or properties that have SOLD!  You see that the number for 2019 shows that 609 properties sold last year in March.  This year only 554 properties sold.  Which produced another change of -9.0%.  For both the buyer & seller this proves that inventory is low which has caused the numbers to drop.  This is not a good indication of the pandemic because the majority of these sales had been in the works about 45 days before they closed in march.

The next slide shows you the length of time that a house is on the market until it gets tagged as SOLD.  You’ll see that the days on market has decreased 20.4% to 43 days on market.  This time last year it was 54 days on market.  The number is a refection of  the lack of inventory and the level of competition.  There are a lot of buyer in the market with out enough inventory to choose from.  One tip that I would give a buyer is be sure that you’re pre-approved for a mortgage before you go looking.  You need to be ready to make an offer as quickly as you can and without a pre-approval you won’t be able to write an offer.

The average sales price has risen by 6.5% which is a great thing if you’re  a seller.  The new average is $238,350 up from 4223,812 last year.  As a buyer rising prices is just more proof that the market is hot and you have to make a decision quicker than later.  It also means that there isn’t much room for negotiation if prices are rising.

The next slide hasn’t changed much over the last 5 years.  The percentage of the list price received by a seller is now at 98.7%.  Over the last five years this number has always been in the 97+% range.  Good for sellers and a tough negotiation for buyers.  But there are

The next slide shows us that the inventory is shrinking.  This is a clear indication of the affect that the virus is having on the market.  Because we have had the shelter-in-place order and real estate is not considered essential at this point in time, many sellers have been sitting on the sideline which has resulted in the 36.5% reduction in inventory. 

The lack of inventory is told in another way….The months supply of inventory.  At this point in time we have 1.4 months supply of inventory if we continue to sell at the current rate.  The inventory is down by 41.7%.  In march of 2018 and 2019 we had 2.4 months supply.  This is another clear indication that the pandemic is having an effect on the real estate market.

If you are interested to know what your home is worth, please contact me today for your free consultation.  We can have our appointment virtually so that you don’t have to leave the house, but you’ll be able to get the information and answers that you’re looking for.