Everybody loves real estate
The holiday season is just around the corner with Halloween next week, Thanksgiving in a month and then, of course, all of the Christmas and New Year's festivities. And I can guarantee you that one of the main topics of conversation at all of the holiday parties will be the real estate market.
Everybody loves to talk about real estate and many of us make perusing real estate search engines, if not a sport, then certainly an entertaining pastime. According to research published by Google in August, Americans spend an average of 55 minutes per online visit with real estate apps on their phones. Well, after all what else is there to do in the doctor's waiting room?
Google further reported that customers start early in the morning and continue throughout the day, considering "shopping for real estate fun." Whether it's on their smart phones or home or office computer, Americans are so addicted to home shopping online that 64 percent say they keep checking out houses and home values long after they have purchased a home. In addition, on average consumers start hunting for real estate three years before they actually buy. Also, only one in five of the people checking out homes on real estate apps and websites are actually in the current market to purchase a home.
I personally have an addiction to Realtor.com, and I receive Trulia alerts when a new property is listed in zip codes I'm interested in, however, there are lots more to choose from: Zillow, Yahoo Homes, Homefinder.com and Redfin, to name a few. Also, realtor associations around the country allow public access to their local multiple listings, as well as individual real estate companies, where you can access their listings and multiple listings through their websites.
So, since we're all obsessed with the real estate market, how are we doing? Well nationally home purchases in the month of August were reduced by 0.9 percent from July per the National Association of Realtors, but up 0.8 percent from August of last year. The market is still struggling with high prices as the result of a shortage of homes for sale and an economy that can't really get moving.
Around here, Manatee County closed 13 percent more single-family homes in August of this year than August of last year, with an average sale price of $314,827, down just slightly from last year's $315,419. The median time to sell is also almost the same with 91 days this year and 92 last. Active listings are up 15.7 percent this August over last August with a 4.2-month supply of single-family homes available this year compared to 3.5 percent last year.
Condo sales were way up in August of this year compared to last to the tune of 45.2 percent, with the average sale price at $199,197 this year compared to $209,994 last year slightly down. Median time to sell was similar, 99 days this year compared to 94 last, and active listings were up this year by 17.8 percent. Monthly supply of inventory was almost the same at 3.8 months this year compared to 3.7 last.
Right now, our on the market numbers are a little higher, which is good for the market, but we continue to be well below the healthy six-month supply of available inventory. When the busy selling season starts these supply numbers will be interesting to follow.
Time to start working those real estate apps before the holiday cocktail parties. You don't want to look like you're not keeping current. God knows there isn't anything else to talk about this year!