Realtor Conference Lawrence Yun 007

Larry got his knickers in a bunch today with the news that the national sales dropped 7.1% from January to February:

http://www.realtor.org/news-releases/2016/03/existing-home-sales-fizzle-in-february

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, says existing sales disappointed in February and failed to keep pace with what had been a strong start to the year. “Sales took a considerable step back in most of the country last month, and especially in the Northeast and Midwest,” he said. “The lull in contract signings in January from the large East Coast blizzard, along with the slump in the stock market, may have played a role in February’s lack of closings. However, the main issue continues to be a supply and affordability problem. Finding the right property at an affordable price is burdening many potential buyers.”

Our market seems hot on the lower end, and not so much on the higher end.  Let’s examine our local counts, and differentiate by the price categories too, rather than make broad assumptions like the talking heads.

We covered this on March 3rd, but let’s add in the five late-reporters to give a final tally to the February sales counts:

NSDCC Houses Sold in February

Year
Under-$1,400,000
Over-$1,400,000
Total # of Houses Sold
2012
154
30
184
2013
144
44
188
2014
139
41
180
2015
111
59
170
Jan16
121
47
168
2016
92
46
138

The number of sales is a leading indicator, and a precursor of things to come. It’s doubtful that home sellers will get too concerned about a couple of data points, but it will be interesting to see if the trend of fewer sales continues.

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