It’s the middle of December, which means the Knoxville Area Association of Realtor’s numbers are finally out for Knoxville’s November home sales. And trust me, I wish I had some Christmas cheer to spread, but I keep  reaching into this Home Sales Report stocking and all I’m pulling out is coal.

In case you’ve already forgotten all about November 2008, let me refresh your memory: Barack Obama won the presidential election; Germany & Japan officially went into recession; the US announced another rescue package, this time for Citigroup; and the Federal Reserve announced it would inject another $800 billion into the US economy to try to stabilize our flailing financial system. It was basically more fun than a barell full of monkeys. Very over-leveraged, cash poor, soon to be foreclosed on monkeys.

So, how did the Knoxville real estate market fare through all of that doom and gloom? Well, not too great. So, sit back, relax, and let me break it to you gently - All Around KTown style.

You know I like to start with the good news first -

Median sales price for 2 or less BR homes is up.
Nov ‘07 - $80,500
Nov ‘08 - $87,000

2008 is almost over.

Now for the not-so-good news:

Average sales price for 2 or less BR homes is (way) down.
Nov ‘07 - $99,200
Nov ‘08 - $85,900

It’s already the middle of the month again, and you know what that means - Home Sales Report time!

So, remember October 2008? You know, the month we learned this all financial mess was spreading to Europe and beyond? The month that President Bush signed that $700 billion bailout package into law and then the Dow went and had its worst week on record anyway? The month when looking at your 401K was scarier than any Halloween haunted house in town?  Yep, that’s the October I’m talkin’ about.

So how did the Knoxville home market fare through all of October’s financial hullabaloo? Allow me to break it down for you the only way I know how — All Around KTown style. Word.

You know I like to start with the good news first  -

Average sales price for 2 or less BR homes is up.
Oct ‘07 - $82,700
Oct ‘08 - $93,000

Median sales price for 2 or less BR homes is up.
Oct ‘07 - $66,000
Oct ‘08 - $78,000

And that’s it for the good news. But hey, at least there was some this month. Now for the not so good news -

The weekly poll is ready to go in its usual spot. Go get your vote on.

This week’s topic is the September Home Sales Report numbers that just came out and how you feel about them. Numbers were down all the way across the board last month, which is obviously not a good thing. But do you feel mad at the general state of the national economy? Glad that you don’t have a house to sell any time soon? Or maybe just sad that you don’t have any money to invest during this buyer’s market? Cast your vote and let me know.

Don’t get mad, get glad that you can get the latest news on the Knoxville real estate market any time you need it- subscribe to All Around KTown in a feed reader or by email today!

photo credit: futureshape

It’s time for the numbery goodness that is the monthly Home Sales Report - the monthly sales stats that come from the Knoxville Area Association of Realtors. It’s fun stuff.

September was an ugly month for the financial market. I know you’ve been busy trying to keep up with all the global economic insanity that October has brought us, but it was just over a month ago that Fannie and Freddie were taken over by the governmet, Lehman Brothers collapsed, AIG was bailed out by the government, and Washington Mutual was seized by the FDIC. Those were the days, huh?

So how did all of that financial turmoil affect the housing market right here in good old Knoxville? There’s only one way I know to find out and that’s to breakdown the September Home Sales Report All Around K-Town style. Aw, yeah.

You know i like to start with the good news first. Except there isn’t any. Well, not about the home sale numbers, anyway. That’s right, NONE of the sales numbers went up. Go ahead, digest it and suck it up, because it’s time to move on to the not so good news. Ready? OK, here goes:

Average sales price for 2 or less BR homes is down.
Sept ‘07 - $107,400
Sept ‘08 - $88,600

Median sales price for 2 or less BR homes is down.
Sept ‘07 - $80,000
Sept ‘08 - $78,000

Those of you who stop by on a regular basis know that once a month, my office gets together to drink bad coffee & dissect the previous month’s sales and listing numbers. And if you’ve been coming here for a while, you also know that if there’s any juicy or thought provoking information in those meetings, it winds up here, in the Sales Meeting Update.

This month’s meeting had some interesting charts that I thought were worth sharing, and my broker was kind enough to pass them on - even though she knows they’re doomed to end up here

This first one is a year over year comparison of new listings taken, pending sales, and closed sales, for just my office (CBWW West Town).

CBWW West Town Year Over Year Comparison

Yeah, it’s kind of ironic that they put the ‘08 numbers in black.  For those of you keeping score at home, that’s 40% fewer closings last month than a year ago last month. Aye carumba.

Now, keep in mind, these numbers are just for my office, and not for all of Knoxville, or even for all of Wallace & Wallace, but I can’t help but think that other companies are seeing similar trends. I’m sure the September Home Sales Report will shed more light on that when it comes out in a week or so.

Speaking of Home Sales Reports, there was also a chart from the August Home Sales Report data that I thought was interesting. It shows August closings for the entire Knoxville Area Association of Realtors going back 6 years-

What’s interesting to me about this slide is that although units sold are down considerably from ‘07,  average market time, although slightly elevated, has remained pretty steady.

And while ‘08 seems pretty rough in comparison to ‘05 & ‘06, it doesn’t look nearly as bad when you compare it to the pre-boom years of ‘03 and ‘04. Hey, I’m just trying to find something to be positive about over here, OK?

Well, that’s it for this month’s Sales Meeting Update. Comments and questions about these charts are, of course, welcome.

And as always, please keep in mind that I share this information with you in order to shed some light on the market, not to scare the bejeebus out of you. People really are still buying & selling homes out there and the last time I checked, there was even still money left for home mortgages. I hope.

It’s that special time of the month again. The time when we pause to reflect on the previous month’s real estate activity. My people call it Home Sales Report time. August Home Sales Report, to be exact.

August seems like a million years ago now, what with all the craziness that the financial markets have seen so far this month, but it was just a few short weeks ago that Fannie and Freddie were not government controlled entities, Merrill Lynch was not Bank of America and Lehman Brothers was not totally screwed.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. We’ll get to deal with the fallout of all of that fun stuff in the September Home Sales Report. Right now it’s time for the August Home Sales Report breakdown just the way you like it — All Around K-Town style.

I think we could all use the good news first:

Average sales price for 2 or less BR homes is up.
August ‘07 - $95,500
August ‘08 - $98,100

Median sales price for 2 or less BR homes is up.
August ‘07 - $80,000
August ‘08 - $85,000

And yeah, that’s about it for the good news. Now for the not so good news:

It’s the middle of the month again and that means it’s Home Sales Report time. For those of you new to this shindig, every month I look at the Knoxville Area Association of Realtors Sales Report statistics and tell you what sold and for how much as compared to the same month the previous year.

So here’s the July Home Sales Report breakdown the only way I know how to do it — All Around K-Town style.

Let’s look at the good news first:

Average sales price for 2 or less BR homes is (way) up.
July ‘07 - $111,500
July ‘08 - $146,100

Average sales price for 4+ BR homes is up.
July ‘07 - $298,100
July ‘08 - $307,700

Median sales price for 4+ BR homes is (slightly) up.
July ‘07 - $261,700
July ‘08 - $262,500

Just what you wanted this week, more numbers, right? Josh Flory over at Property Scope has done his write-up on the Knoxville February Home Sales Report and he asks an interesting question:

“The median price for homes with two or fewer bedrooms, or four-plus bedrooms dropped, though. At the small end of the spectrum, the median price fell by a whopping 19.9 percent, to $62,500, while the median price at the high end fell by 3.7 percent, to $240,000.

Any thoughts on why this happened? One interesting quirk is the fact that there were 14 homes in the smallest category that sold for less than $20,000 in February, compared to only three in that category during February of 2007.”

I have no idea about the homes under $20,000 quirk, but as for the other, I think the answer has to do with the tightened mortgage qualificaiton criteria. People who would have bought on the lower end last year simply could not qualify this year, while folks looking to buy on the high side wound up qualifying for less loan and had to buy less house.

Does that make sense to anybody else or have I not had enough coffee today?

Better late than never - the February Home Sales Report numbers from KAARMLS are up. Let’s start with the good news first: