Happy New Year! Hope you enjoyed the holidays – I did but I’m glad they’re over and we can finally get back into a normal routine. Let’s jump right in.
Looks as if a number of sellers decided to start the new year by not renewing their listings as our inventory this morning is down 3 1/2% from last week to 489, with 9 fewer homes (169) and 9 fewer lots (320). When we began our weekly reviews back on September 7, the inventory was at 555, so we’ve reduced it by 12% which is exactly the direction we want to head. This is the lowest number of houses on the market since July 2005.
We’re off to a good start for the year with at least one new contract, another Barrier Dunes townhome. It’s one of the newer units, a 2 bedroom, 2 bath interior end unit listed for $259,000. Since there are contingencies to be met the projected closing date isn’t noted in the MLS so we’ll have to wait and see what the details are. There was another 2 bedroom/2 bath unit closed in November for $220,000, way below what anything else has sold for there in years.
Only 5 sellers opted for a price change this week, mostly modest reductions, ranging from 4% to 13% (we’ve seen worse). Let’s look at that 13% price cut. It’s an interior 3 bedroom, 3 bath single family home in Peninsula Estates less than a mile south of the state park on the Cape. According to the county records, the new price of $325,000 is exactly what the seller paid for it back in September of 2005. Interesting.
That about does it for this week. Now that the holidays are over I’ll be posting more frequently during the week so I hope you’ll stop by and visit. I love checking the stats page and seeing the number of readers growing each and every week. If you have an issue or item you’d like me to report on I’d love to hear it so either shoot me an e-mail to [email protected] or give me a call at 850 227-7891.