Attachment
Veteran real estate businessman Walter Hall, Chairman of HouseSavvy (www.housesavvy.com)
According to information compiled by Hall’s company, the inventory of unsold listings in the Greater Boston market area – including Bristol, Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk, Plymouth and Suffolk counties – has followed an inverse curve for the past year, with unsold home inventory decreasing when sales increased, then rising as the number of sales declined. January year-to-year, the inventory of unsold listings dropped 19% and during the last three months, an astonishing 25% - of and by itself a very healthy trend. However, once you factor in a whopping 55% drop in sales activity, the inventory of unsold home has shot up from a 8.2 months supply to an 11.3 months supply and the stage is set for a negative market adjustment that hopefully is temporary.
“If sales start to pick up, as they began to do the latter part of last year, inventory levels should rapidly return to a more positive level,” said Hall, who in his January market analysis, reported on a general trend in the Greater Boston area toward a more balanced (seller/buyer)
The average sale price in the Greater Boston area, January year-to-year, broken down by county is as follows: Bristol, $242,331 compared to $308,626 in January 2008; Essex, $368,298 compared to $452,909; Middlesex, $456,740 compared to $528,949; Norfolk, $465,368 compared to $528,174; Plymouth, $291,919 compared to $400,790; and Suffolk, $282,572 compared to $416,333.
Said Hall, “As I previously mentioned, the average sale price of homes sold should not be confused with the average value of homes not for sale. The average sale price simply indicates what buyers are paying for homes that are on the market for sale.”
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