May Listings Report (2008)

Okay... June 1 falls on a Sunday this month. That means I'm up early to on a normal day off, a morning that I would be making my Italian red sauce (marinara... only better). But I know that many readers want the sales and listing report information so here I am reporting numbers, later I'll make the sauce.

Before any of that happens... the disclaimer...

Disclaimer... all data compiled for this report comes from the WARDEX Data Exchange and does not include any sales activity from outside that resource. All research is done only on single family homes and there is no inclusion of modular homes, commercial properties, or vacant land. The geographical area researched includes; all areas within the boundaries of the city of Kingman, north Kingman, the Hualapai Mountain area, and the Valle Vista subdivisions. Click here to see maps of the included area's.

Listings:

Today total listings available for single family residence equals 596 (downward path from 633 on May 1). The rate of new listings taken per day in May was 3.8. Compared to last years total listings available on the market are down 20.6%.

There were 118 new listings taken in May (pretty much the same as compared to 125 in April). The average asking price for the new listings is $213,108 (up from last months $199,847). The median asking price is $189,000 (sharply up from $164,250 previously). Newly listed units are down 22.4% from last year and the average initial offering price dropped 16.9% as compared to May of 2007.

The average newly listed home in May has 2.99 bedrooms, 2.04 baths, a 1.99 car garage, with 1,641 square feet of living space and was built in 1979. The average asking price per square foot of living space is $130. Lastly, 24 of the new listings were actually re-listed either by the same or different broker. 7 units listed last month are already under contract and 3 already closed.

The original price of new listings last month was from $75,000 through $599,900.

Units under contract:

As of today there are 87 total units under contract (down a good amount compared to the number of 117 last month).

53 units entered into contracts in the month of May (about the same as the 56 the previous month). The average asking price for homes that received contracts was $176,582 (down from $188,689 last month) and the median asking price for May was $149,900 (down from the previous months $169,900 figure). Units entering contract are down from May of 2007 by 8.6% and the average marketing price is down 19%.

The average home that went under contract in May has 3.08 bedrooms, 2.1 baths, a 1.98 car garage, with 1,626 square feet of living space, and was built in 1995. The average asking price per square foot of living space for listings that entered contract this month is $108. It was also priced $15,496 higher when it first was listed as compared to its current asking price (the average price reduction was $15,439 last month). The average marketing time to reach a contract was 175 days (from 235 last month).

The advertised price of units that entered contract was from $69,900 through $429,900.

Conclusions:

Well, some numbers are good... total listings on the market has come down from the peak of 758 back in October of last year, the market is down under 600 for the first time since I began to track this figure (June of 06). So inventory is down and that is good... but...

Sellers are still listing homes for far too much as compared to the the successful part of the market. That number is bad no matter how you cut it. All anyone has to do is compare the listing prices to the eventual sales prices to see the void. There are buyers out there and they are waiting for PRICE to appeal to them. Sellers are constantly conceding price just to get a contract, and conceding even more to close the sale.

Time to make some red sauce and meatballs so I'll see you next time.