Market activity can vary greatly from one segment to the next. Although overall purchase activity was down 17.6 percent, the foreclosure segment saw a 31.3 percent jump in pending sales and a 29.9 percent jump in closed sales. Foreclosure prices decreased 11.0 percent to $105,000; short sale prices decreased 6.9 percent to $134,950; and traditional prices decreased 3.5 percent to $192,000. While the bargain status of lender-mediated homes unquestionably helped their popularity surge among consumers, that same popularity pushed overall prices down 15.2 percent to $140,000.
Proper home pricing and conditioning are the key items in the seller’s survival kit. The average days on market was 152 days, an increase of 17.8 percent. Negotiations unsurprisingly favored buyers as the percent of list price received at sale declined to 88.6. The months of inventory supply grew slightly to 7.7 months. That is up 16.9 percent from last March but mostly flat from last month. More information on the current market: The Skinny.
