SPRINGFIELD (January 16, 2018). In the Capital area, home sales, pending sales and home sale prices were up while new listings, days on market, inventory and months supply of inventory were down, according to the Capital Area REALTORS® (CAR).
Home sales in the Capital Area during the month of December 2017 reached 288 units, reflecting an increase of 7.9 percent over the 267 home sales recorded in December of 2016. Home sales for 2017 reached 3,884 unit sales, reflecting a 1.1 percent increase over the units sold in 2016.
The median home sale price (for all single-family homes and condominiums) during December 2017 was $120,000, up 9.1 percent from December 2016. The median home sale price for 2017 was $123,000, reflecting a 1.6 percent increase over the 2016 median price of $121,100.
“Sales activity continues to be robust in spite of the tight inventory of homes available for sale,” according to REALTOR Ed Mahoney, ABR, broker associate with RE/MAX Professionals and president of the organization.
The number of pending sales at the end of December 2017 was 221, up 30.0 percent from the 170 pending sales during the same time in 2016. Homes sold more quickly in December 2017 with 91 cumulative days on market (CDOM) versus 101 during December 2016. For the year as a whole, homes sold more quickly in 2017 with an average of 81 cumulative days on market, a decrease of 4.7 percent from 85 days in 2016.
“One of the many services that our organization provides our REALTOR members is technology tools to help drive efficiencies and increase customer satisfaction. Electronic forms and contracts and digital signature software is one of these tools. In 2017 Capital Area REALTORS generated 23,508 digital signatures, reflecting an increase of 36 percent over the prior year,” according to Mahoney.
As we look ahead to 2018 “60 percent of renters believe now is a good time to buy a home and 76 percent of homeowners think now is a good time to sell, according to a recent survey conducted by the National Association of REALTORS.
In the area of foreclosure sales, there were 24 sales in December 2017 or 8.3 percent of all sales as compared to 8.7 percent of all sales in December 2016. For 2017, there were 248 foreclosure sales or 6.4 percent of all home sales versus 326, or 8.5 percent of all home sales in 2016.
During December of 2017 a total of 203 new listings were taken versus 210 during the same period in 2016. For the year ending 2017 there were 5,288 new listings, reflecting an increase of 2.3 percent over the prior year. Inventory levels for December of 2017 remained unchanged from the prior December with 3.3 months. “Our member brokers were busier than normal in December, but that the continued lack of inventory hurt the market as some buyers weren’t finding what they were looking for in their price range,” said Mahoney.
During 2017 there were 82 new residential construction sales, reflecting a 21.9 percent decrease from the 105 sales in 2016. New construction sales in 2016 made up 2.7 percent of all home sales in the Capital Area. The median price of a new construction sale reported through the MLS in 2017 was $261,800, reflecting a 3.9 percent increase from the $272,500 median price in 2016 which marked the highest median price on record for new construction sales.
The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. reported that the national average commitment rate for 30-year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgages was 3.95 percent in December 2017, down slightly from the 4.20 average rate during December of 2016. Mortgage rates averaged 3.99 in 2017 versus 3.65 in 2016.
The Capital Area REALTORS® is the Voice for Real Estate in the Capital Area representing more than 800 members involved in all aspects of the real estate industry. The Capital Area’s Resource for Real Estate Information can be found at
www.SeeHouses.com.
Click here for statistical reports.
###