July Home Sales Report

August 19, 2008

(1) Comment

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

Median condo sales price is up.

July ‘07 - $154,900
July ‘08 - $160,000
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Now for the not so great news:

Median sales price for 2 or less BR homes is down.
July ‘07 - $84,900
July ‘08 - $74,500
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Average sales price for 3 BR homes is (way) down.
July ‘07 -$173,400
July ‘08 -$162,400
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Median sales price for 3 BR homes is down.
July ‘07 -$154,900
July ‘08 -$146,200
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Average condo sales price is (slightly) down.
July ‘07 - $179,800
July ‘08 - $178,200
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Total number of single family units sold is (way, way) down.
July ‘07 -1601
July ‘08 -1199
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Total number of condo units sold is (way) down.
July ‘07 -187
July ‘08 -127
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Days on market is up.
July ‘07 -88
July ‘08 -102
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Here’s the “Yes, FHA continues to be the new sub-prime” news:

The number of FHA loans keeps going up and up and up...
July ‘07- 53
July ‘08- 209

…while, the number of conventional loans keeps going down, down, down.
July ‘07 - 1237
July ‘08 -719

Then there’s the “I guess a lot of homes really aren’t selling, are they?” news:

Residential active listings are still up.
July ‘07 - 14, 611
July ‘08 - 15,138

While residential listings taken are still down.
July ‘07 - 3142
July ‘08 -2876

Finally, here’s the “what part of competitive pricing in a buyer’s market don’t sellers understand?” news -

The average list price for new listings continues to be up. Way up.
July ‘07 - $233,100
July ‘08 - $290,400

So, here’s my completely unscientific analysis:
  1. Amidst declining sales, Knoxville condos are still doing a decent job of holding their value.
  2. Residential sales are still squeezably soft.*
  3. Upper end home prices made a suprising rally.
  4. Buyers are continuing to go FHA either voluntarily or by necessity.
  5. High inventory continues to be a key problem.
  6. Sellers are still refusing to admit that competitive pricing is key in a buyer’s market.
  7. With a 25% decrease in closed sales, I’m guessing many Knoxville area Realtors are enjoying a fine meal of Ramen noodles and tap water this evening.

If you’re interested in looking at both reports yourself, here is ‘07 and here is ‘08. Enjoy, and please let me know in the comments if I missed anything good. I hate missing good stuff.

*No need to freak out. Lower average sales price and lower median sales price do not necessarily mean that your personal home has depreciated.

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Knoxville Foreclosure Watch

July 30, 2008

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It hardly seems like it can be Foreclosure Watch time again, but time does have a tendency to fly when you’re working in this crazy real estate market. This week on Foreclosure Watch, while actives, pendings and closings stay somewhat steady, I did notice two strange blips in the data.

1. The average sales price for closed foreclosures more than doubled.
This is partially due to one very big six figure sale, but even if you remove the big one from the equation, the average sales price would still be in the $120s - way higher than last week’s average of around $88,000. So what gives? Is it just a fluke or are more buyers starting to look for bargains in the upper bracket of the foreclosure market? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

2. There were only about 1/2 has many new foreclosure listings this week as there were the previous two weeks.
Again, no idea if this is a fluke or a trend, but you can bet I’ll be keeping an eye on it in coming weeks.

Now for the breakdown:

Knox County Foreclosure Property Statistics as of 7/30/08 *

Current On-Market Listings - 150 ?
Average Asking Price: $136,451 ?
Median Asking Price: $88,900 ?
Most Expensive New Listing: $499,900 (7 BR, 4 1/2 BA, 4900+ sq ft in Andover Place in Farragut)
Least Expensive New Listing: $16,150 (1 BR, 1 BA, 700+ sq ft in East Knoxville)

Notable New Listings:
North: $180,000 (4 BR, 2 1/2 BA, 2400+ sq ft in Corryton)
South: $90,900 (3 BR, 2 BA, 1100+ sq ft off of Sevierville Pike)
East: $39,900 (3 BR, 1 1/2 BA 1300+ sq ft off of Biddle St.)
West: $120,000 (4 BR, 3 BA, approx 2600 sq ft in Lakeshire)

Current Pending Sales -105 ?
Average Asking Price - $87,444?
Median Asking Price - $74,900?

Closed Sales July 23, 2008-July 29, 2008 - 12 ?
Average Asking Price - $174,442?(way, way up)
Average Sales Price - $164,383?
Median Sales Price - $135,600 ?
Average Days on Market - 69 ?

*Data taken from KAARMLS on 7/30/08 for Knox County single family residential properties only, and does not include condos or PUDS.

As always, if you need more information on any of these properties, just drop me a line.

If you’d like to receive new foreclosure listings automatically, send me an email with “Foreclosure List” in the subject line, and I’ll do the rest. Spam is for losers.

Why take the chance of ever missing out on Foreclosure Watch? Make sure you get all your foreclosure goodness every week by subscribing to All Around K-Town today, either by RSS or email!

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