Feb

28

Long Island Real Estate Market: Sales Update, January 2009

Filed Under Sellers, Sellers & Buyers |


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As 2008 ended, January of this new year told the story of how we closed out 2008. It’s important to know that a real estate closing is developed over time. What closes in one month, is a demonstration of where the buying market was one to three months ago. Remember, whatever sells in January, was in contract in November or December, because it takes anywhere from 30 to 90 days to close a real estate transaction.

One of the better bits of data that came our way from January was a marked decline in homes for sale. Inventory declined by approximately 6% from the previous month. If we compare December, 2008 sales to January of 2009, this is the unfortunate news, for homeowners, as we saw a 33% decline in sales.

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From this slide, we see a marked decline in sales, starting before December, 2008 and falling from there. But if we take a closer look at Long Island real estate market sales from August, 2008 to January, ‘09 - we see a dramatic fall in prices of 18.6%.

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For homeowners looking to sell, you really must weigh what you want from your life at this point. I know that sounds over the top, but there are many people with great equity in their properties who still think that the market is going to “bounce back” within a year…while they lose about 1% on the average, every month.

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This slide shows the sales numbers for January, throughout the Long Island real estate market. These are those numbers that are both good and very bad at the same time. A marked decline in inventory (over 6% less homes for sale) is good but what is bad is a 33% decline in homes sold, indicating a decreased buyer interest from previous months. Now February and March closings will let us know how January actually was in terms of sales.

For now, remember to check back soon, as I will be doing a full spread on foreclosures and short sales throughout the entire real estate market here on Long Island and abroad. The numbers are going to shock you as we all start hearing terms like, “alt a” and “option arms” like we’ve heard about the “subprime” for the past 2 years. The next wave is coming and we might just find ourselves only half the way through this.

(c) Copyright, 2009 www.tommcgiveron.com
By Thomas McGiveron, Licensed Real Estate Salesperson



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