Since Kris always seems to steal my best and most creative post ideas (without giving me credit) I am, again, left only with the dry statistics to present to you. Please know that for next month I plan to add some fun and pizazz to this otherwise very rote, but important exercise. Since I have little (no) pride of authorship, I welcome any ideas or comments that would help me to creatively enhance these statistics. I might even pop for a Starbucks Gift Card to the person offering the best suggestion. For now, however…
The trend continues, although subtle changes are revealing themselves. Comparing May, ’07 to one year ago reveals no great surprises, but a couple of mild ones. The number of detached home sales in May ‘07 (31 sales) is down from the same period last year (38) by 8%. This is a departure from the even slower overall sales trend when comparing 2005 to 2006. Is a trend reversal coming soon? It’s still too early to say. But at least for the moment it’s moving in the right direction - towards equilibrium, not away.
The average sale price (again, detached homes) per square foot was also down in May ‘07 ($330/ft) versus May ‘06 ($354/ft.) by 6%. This has been fairly consistent year over year.
Days on market were slightly improved with an average of 50 days for this year versus 52 days last year.
Currently there are 106 detached homes on the market in Scripps Ranch. This is slightly over 1% of the entire inventory of existing homes. At the current absorption rate for this year (avg. 24 sales per month), this reflects an approximately 4.4 month inventory.
Ironically, when absorption of the inventory of homes for sale is less than 6 months, it is technically considered a sellers market. But it may be hard to convince many sellers of this at the moment.
Looking ahead to the July/August timeframe, it will be interesting to see how the inventory of homes for sale compares with the end of July last year when there were 158 homes on the market, the most in recent memory.
A Helpful Reminder - For those selling (or thinking about selling soon), remember that there are more choices for buyers now. Pricing strategy and the appearance of your home is more important than ever. The message for the day is: Stage it! Clean it! Polish it! Price it Right! This will give you the greatest chance for success.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Sock Puppet
06.19.07 at 4:31 pm
Just swap your pictures Steve. Kris will never find out.
-Not Athol, someone else completely.
Kris Berg
06.19.07 at 7:17 pm
Athol - And you wonder why you had to take the alias?
Watch it, Mister!
Phil Hoover
06.19.07 at 7:20 pm
Steve ~
So, am I correct to assume that there are 10,000 homes in Scripps Ranch?
(You said that 106 homes constitutes 1% of the existing homes)
If so, that is one HUGE subdivision!
Brookwood has around 380 homes and we have 19 on the market ~ which is 5%.
Phil
Steve Berg
06.19.07 at 7:41 pm
Athol - I do like the way you think. Hmmm…
Phil - Actually, just over 1%. Yes, the Scripps Ranch Community is approaching 9,000 detached homes and approximately 3,000 condo’s. It’s really a conglomeration of many neighborhoods growing out of two primary master plans, the first of which was hatched in the early ’70’s. The second, Scripps Ranch Villages, began construction in the mid ’90’s. An add on, Stonebridge Estates, is now under construction. It does have many benefits and the feel of a small town here, though. Except that there are probably more licensed real estate agents here, per capita, than anywhere on earth. Other than that, it’s great!!