As the year comes to a close, some interesting facts have appeared. First, we now have had one solid year of positive appreciation in the monthly average sales price per square foot on homes sold through MLS. It turned negative in August of 2010 and then turned positive again on November 30th 2011 which continued through 2012. Now, one year later, we’ve seen appreciation of around 28% – with the bulk of the gains occurring in the first half of 2012.
Normal sales continue to replace distress sales – even in the last 30 days moving from 60.8% to 65.1%. Wow, we haven’t seen that level of “normal†sales in five years! REOs dropped slightly to 13%. Short sales dropped more significantly from 26% to 22%.
What will 2013 bring? Markets can shift quickly as the last few years have shown. At this time it would appear that the rising prices will continue to lure sellers back in to the market increasing supply, investors are likely to continue to diminish as higher prices curb their appetite decreasing demand further, and we may find ourselves back in a buyer’s market in 2013. Stay tuned!