August 5,
2013
August 1st
brought us cooler temperatures, lower humidity levels and lots of summer
visitors. And with all these visitors, I
have only one question, “Where are all the buyers?”
The real
estate market on Martha’s Vineyard is not living up to my “hopes and
predictions”. The number of property
viewings has dwindled to just a few each week. For example, last week I had 3
showings of the 28 homes I have for sale and none of these were above the
$600,000 price range! The only
explanation I have for this comes from Dave Liniger, founder/owner of RE/MAX
international, whom I had recently had an opportunity to “skype” with. He says that the second/resort home market
historically lags 12-18 months behind a “jump” in the primary home market and if
you are following the national real estate market, areas like Las Vegas and
Boston are seeing double digit growth and multiple offers on many homes. So it appears as though we are in a “wait and
see” scenario for Vineyard real estate.
There
were 25 residential sales in June (avg. price $805K and median price $600K)
compared to 35 sales in July 2013 (avg. price $938K and median price $540K) and
compared to 26 sales in July 2012 (avg. price $827K and median price $562K). So, the average price is DOWN (14%) from last
month and DOWN (3%) from the same month a year ago. The median price is “UP” (11%)
when comparing month over month and UP (7%) compared to July 2012. The average “Days on Market” in July is down
to 220 days, from 283 last month and from 274 in July 2012. Again, as last month, the numbers mixed with
the lone positive being the increase in median price. As mentioned above, the lack of current buyer
interest tells me that we are in a bit of a slump.
As with last
month, let us look only at the prices and days on market when comparing YTD
totals. The YTD (2013) average price is $886K and median price is $570K
compared to 2012 YTD sales with $931K
avg. price and $535K median price. These
numbers show the average price declined (by 5%) while the median price is up
(by 7%). These numbers mimic what we saw
last month. Average days on market is
307 for YTD 2013, up 21% from YTD 2012.
Lastly,
interest rates have ticked up a bit again (many 30 year rates are over 4.5%) which
will help those buyers who are “sitting on the fence” jump into the
market. We have some new lenders
offering incentives for the “Jumbo” loans (those over $417K so hopefully we can
entice some buyers to take advantage of these programs. On a similar note, one local lender is
offering 100% financing to any Dukes County municipal employees (teachers,
medical profession, social service providers, etc), so I hope to see some buyer
take advantage of this opportunity.
Please
let me know any questions you might have about how this prediction affects your
property. As always, I appreciate your trust and patience in what I do. All the best in real estate and otherwise.
Doug
Reece
Certified Residential
Specialist®,
Certified Luxury Home Marketing
Specialist®
Accredited
Buyers Agent®
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