Houses are selling faster in America than they have in three and a half years, the height of the homebuyer tax credit, as the recovery continues to roar through the summer months despite predictions the torrid pace of sales will slow.
New HousingPulse data show that three key barometers of the health of the housing market – time on market, number of sales offers, and the sales-to-list price ratio – all remained very strong for non-distressed properties in July. Non-distressed properties are the largest and fastest segment of this year’s housing market, according to the latest Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey results.
In the important time on market measurement, the average nationwide fell to a three-and-a-half year low of 8.6 weeks (based on a three month moving average) for non-distressed properties, HousingPulse found. That was not only way down from the 12.1 weeks seen in December but also down from 9.2 weeks in May.
On a regional basis, the average time on market for non-distressed properties sold in July ranged from a low of just 4.5 weeks in California to a high of 11.3 weeks in the Industrial Midwest (MO, IL, IN, OH and MI), HousingPulse data showed.
In terms of number of offers received, the July results also were very strong. Nationwide, HousingPulse recorded an average 2.3 offers for non-distressed properties sold in July. That was the fourth month in a row the national average has been at a three-and-a-half year high.
California once again led the nation in this category with an average 4.1 offers received on every non-distressed property sold in July. The Farmbelt (ND, SD, NE, KS, MN, IA and WI) was at the other end of the spectrum with an average of just 1.4 offers on every non-distressed property sold.
In the key sales-to-list price ratio category, a measure of how close a property’s sales price came to the listed price, July set a new high watermark, according to HousingPulse. The average sales-to-list price ratio for non-distressed properties nationwide hit 98.0 percent last month. That was up from 95.6 percent in December and 97.6 percent in May.
On a regional basis, California topped all other areas with an average sales-to-list price ratio of 101.8 percent in July. That meant that on average non-distressed properties in California sold for more than their asking price – a sign of a very hot housing market. On the other end, Florida had the lowest average sales-to-list price ratio in July for non-distressed properties at 95.0 percent.
http://www.realestateeconomywatch.com/2013/08/time-on-market-falls-to-86-weeks/