Market Statistics Update

Yesterday I conducted a more detailed review of the 37 new purchase contracts written two weeks ago and 18 of them were for either short-sales or foreclosed (bank-owned) properties.


I then did a more comprehensive review and of 116 recently written purchase contracts, 55 were for either short-sales of foreclosed properties.

Recently then, over 40% of the new purchase contracts being written are in these two categories. This is similar to circumstances in the San Diego, California market. I mention this because whatever is happening there eventually spreads throughout the rest of the country (usually with at least a six month delay).

I also conducted a search of the 1,800+ plus active listings and somewhere around 200 have been coded as either a short-sale or foreclosure. I say somewhere because it's difficult to determine the status of these properties because of the wording used in the listing. But I believe the percentage of short-sales and foreclosures is about 15% of our current active inventory.

The unanswered question is how many more properties of this type will be "coming on the market" for the next six months or so.

I also believe this is a preview of what's coming up and it's positive because we need to absorb all these short-sales and foreclosures before our markets have a chance to improve.