Rain continued to be the story of our region throughout July with severe weather potentially impacting the pace of home sales. “July was a challenging month,” states FAAR Board Member Mark Geslock. “The rains slowed open houses and some showings were postponed or cancelled due to flooding. Listings were deleted because professional photos had to be rescheduled,” continued Geslock. Despite the soggy conditions, the market managed to post modest gains in total sold dollar volume, median sold price, and units sold.
Total sold volume increased over 6%, increasing to $208.7 million in July of 2018 from $196.5 million in July of 2017. Median price saw a nearly 3.4% year-over-year increase going from $301,000 in July of last year to $310,000 in July of this year. Units sold increased from 622 in July of 2017 to 639 in July of 2018, representing a 2.7% jump in sales.
Days on market, the time it takes from when a listing enters the market until it receives a ratified contract, fell at a slower pace in July than in previous months. The market has been experiencing year-over-year reductions in days on market exceeding 20%, but July came in at a more modest 8.7% decrease. In July of 2017, homes spent an average of 46 days on the market compared to 42 days in July of 2018.
A bright spot in July’s statistics was the over 10% increase in new listings entering the market. In July of 2017, 839 new homes came on the market but in July of 2018 there were nearly 100 more at 925, representing a 10.25% increase. Active listings remained static in July with a negligible 0.12% increase by adding just two more homes to the active inventory compared to last year. In July of 2018, buyers in the market had 1,728 homes to choose from.
