December Stats

Well the stats are in for December’s Lansing real estate numbers and….it looks like November was a fluke. As you may recall, the average sales price inched up in November for the first time since prices began their downward spiral in 2006. November was also when the first time home buyer tax credit was originally set to expire, which could account for some of the upward pressure from that month. I would not be suprised to see the same thing happen in April and folks rush to get in before the new deadline. December’s numbers do not continue November’s upwards numbers as the average sales price fell year on year from $104,264 to $98,923 from 2008 to 2009. Also to continue a trend, the number of sales was way up yet again from 388 in 2008 to 422 in 2009.

April Statistics

Well it seems like at least half of the homes that I have been writing offers on lately have been getting multiple offers and even getting bid up over the asking price. Certainly this must eventually translate into higher sales prices? Well finally our statistics are out for April and we saw the average sales price go up almost 4% over March. True we are still down year on year quite a bit from last year, but you have to start somewhere! Our closed sales are up as well, though just from 486 in 2008 to 490 in 2009 for April. This is still more than the 458 deals that closed in April of 2007.  Is that a light at the end of the tunnel?

Average Sales Price (April)

Lansing Market Update: February Stats

Anyone that knows me will tell you I love my statistics. I track everything from my google analytics website traffic to how many of you are reading this blog right now. I think that statistics can be a very helpful tool. Because of that I am going to start doing a market update every month so that you can get the same statistics that Realtors in Lansing are getting. So how was February for real estate in Lansing? Well from a sales standpoint it was great. The Greater Lansing Association of Realtors as a whole closed 327 transactions, up from 272 last year (a 20% increase!) However, the average sales price continues to decline. We fell from an average price of $106,855 in Feb. or 2008 to just $93,501 in 2009 (a 12.5% decrease) This is actually an increase over January’s average sales price of just $88,000.  What can we deduce from all these numbers?  Well, we can say for sure that properties are still selling if you get them to the right price.  And for those you that are still clinging close to an appraisal you had done in the Fall of 2006, it is time to face the reality that prices are just not where they used to be.  For a full list of our statistics check out this link.