May 2008 Tri-City Real Estate Stats

There’s no really pretty way to discuss this – houses under contract are waaaaay down for May, continuing a trend I’ve been watching since the beginning of the year. If you’re a seller, that’s not a stat you’re excited to hear, but it’s true nonetheless. If you’re asking ‘why’, I’ve got an educated guess that I’m going to throw out there –

Mortgages aren’t as easy to come by as they have been, ergo, fewer people are buying homes.

I was speaking with an agent from another office and he said to me, “It’s getting pretty awful out there, isn’t it?”

I replied, “What? Business?”

He said yes.

I was honest and told him that for me, personally, I had seen a dip earlier in the year, but for the past 6 weeks I’ve been crazily busy.

He said, “Oh.”

I post these stats because people like to see them and I like to help interpret them. But I don’t live or die by them. I didn’t know May was down 39.6% in contracts as compared to May ’07, or – 31% from May ’06, or -16% from May ’05, or showing a drop of 9.3% from my very first May in the business in ’04. I was busier than I had been in a long time in May, and in June the busy-ness continued.

Great, Cari – what does that mean for me?

If you’re a buyer, it means that there IS a house out there for you, they’re not being snapped up as quickly, because fewer people are competing for the same house you like.

If you’re a seller, it means your house WILL sell, IF you are priced correctly and your home is in good condition, but be patient, as there are fewer qualified buyers scoping out the goods.

Check out the chart below…

Download the full Tri-City Real Estate stats for May, 2008. (649k PDF)