Doug's September Thoughts

The beginning of September brings the end of summer. The August fireworks in Oak Bluffs were the best ever! Hurricane Irene came and gave us a little blow and rain. My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone inland that took the brunt of the storm.

September also brings cooler days, open parking spaces and the annual Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby. This month will also (hopefully) bring an influx of buyers looking to take advantage of the current market conditions. Real estate is the only business I know that sales slow down when prices are reduced. Go figure!

Sales in August increased to 23 in number. This is a 30% jump from the number of sales in July 2011 and in comparison to August 2010, the sales are the same (23). The median sales price in August 2011 decreased (for the 2nd month in a row) to $473,000 ( $634,750 in Aug 2010) and the average sales price was $543,833 ($1.72M in July 2010) . The average days on market are 254 (288 last year). Although these numbers show a significant decrease in values, the “under agreement” pipeline indicates a larger number of higher end properties will be closing in the fall.

Of the 23 sales in August, 7 were bank foreclosure related sales.

Again, as last month, let us compare the YTD (year to date) sales numbers. For YTD 2011, there have been 223 sales with an average price of $874,000 and a median price of $547,000. In comparison, for the same period 2010, there were 265 sales with an average price of $992,729 and a median price of $560,000. The average days on market are down to 250 compared to 315 in 2010; the only positive number in this month’s review.

Interest rates continue to be historically low and will hopefully entice buyers to take advantage of what I see as a great opportunity to invest on the island. Five year ARM’s are available for as low as 2.5%

Hopefully the world and national economy will stabilize, jobs will increase and we will see a renewed interest in island real estate.