New Listing Watch - the holidays are behind us but ....

... the number of new listings continue to lag behind what we saw a year ago.  In the last two weeks there were 281 new listings compared to 313 a year ago.  New listings were up compared to the prior two weeks period 281 vs 221.

The number of new listings that went into contract in the last two weeks remained essentially unchanged (13 single family homes vs 14 in the prior period and 25 condos compared to 28).  Compared to a year ago the number of single family homes going into contract was 13 vs 12 but condos were 25 vs 30.

The same scenario played out with price reductions.  For single family homes the number of price reductions in the last two weeks stayed largely unchanged compared to the prior period (4 vs 5) and compared to a year ago (4 vs 4).  For condos, however, the number of price reductions was up 21 vs 12 in the prior period and vs only 4 a year ago. 

You can find the full report on our website.

New Listing Watch - revised one day later

Just to show what a difference less than a day can make, we reran the report less than 12 hours after the original (see previous blog entry) 16 additional new listings showed up -- 8 single family homes and 8 condos.  That puts the total at 237 for the most recent two week period compared to 234 a year ago.

There were single digit changes in the number of listings that went into contract and the number of price reductions -- not enough to change the graphs.

New Listing Watch -- usual post holiday surge

As happens every year once the New Year holiday has passed, new listings have jumped up significantly -- 221 in the past two weeks compared to just 46 in the prior two week period.

The bulk of new listings were condos (147 vs 157 for the same period a year ago).  Single family homes accounted for 74 new listings compared to 77 a year ago.

The number of listings of single family homes that went into contract are down compared to the prior 2-week period (14 vs 19) but up compared to the same period a year ago (14 vs 10). Condos show a different trend -- up significantly compared to the prior two week period (28 vs 9) and the same ratio compared to a year ago.

Price reductions are in line with the numbers a year ago.

New Listing Watch -- as low as it can go -- or it's up from here

As expected the number of new listings in the last two weeks is at a low point for the year.  There were only 46 new listings (24 single family homes and 22 condos).  During the same two week period a year ago there were 32 new listings (14 single family homes and 18 condos).

As the chart above shows, this is an annual pattern and, if it holds, the next two weeks should see a major jump in new listings (which will include listings previously pulled off the market in advance of the holidays and then relisted in order to reset the number of days on market in the MLS).

What seems a bit unusual this year is the number of buyers still actively in the market.  As shown in the following chart the percentage of new listings that went into contract.

Compared to last year at this time the percentage of single family homes that went into contract is up substantially -- 79% compared to 57% a year ago.  For condos 41% went into contract compared to 50% for the same period last year.

Finally, the number of price reductions in the last two weeks is negligible with only 4 single family homes and 1 condo posting price reductions.  That is essentially the same as last year.

The full report can be found on our web site:

New Listing Watch - post Thanksgiving

This graph tells all.

The number of new listings fell to it's lowest level of the year with a total of only 95 properties, 43 single family homes and 52 condos.  During the same two week period last year the total number of new listings was 147.  The difference is partly explained by the lateness of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend this year.  Last year it was almost two weeks earlier.

The total number of new listings since the beginning of the year so far is 6,921.  For the same period last year the total was 7,050.

The number of price reductions also fell in the last two weeks:  8 single family homes saw new price reductions along with 32 condos.  That's more than a 50% reduction from the prior period.  Compared to a year ago condos were virtually unchanged (32 vs 33) but there were fewer single family home price reductions (8 vs 18).

The number of new listings going into contract fell to 8 for single family homes compared to 18 in the prior period and compared to 8 a year ago.  6 condos went into contract compared to 13 in the prior period and only 2 a year ago.