After a disappointing number of sales last month (87, the lowest monthly count ever), January is poised to reach 100+ sales. There are 128 houses in escrow today, and 39 of those were marked ‘pending’ prior to January 1st so probably 20+ of those stand a good chance of closing by the end of the month:
NSDCC Monthly Sales
Although the severe drop in sales recently can be attributed to higher mortgage rates, higher prices, etc., you can’t sell what’s not for sale:
NSDCC January Listings
With the number of listings up to 183 this month, we should reach the 205 listings we had last January. Will the last few people on our list still have a fighting chance, or should we hand the Padres tickets to Joe?
Here are the contestants:
Contest to Guess the Total Number of NSDCC January Listings
142 Anne M
157 Skip
160 doughboy
170 Dale
174 SurfRider
176 LifeIsRadInCbad
180 Kingside
188 Stephanie R.
189 Chris
190 Tom
192 Sara G.
196 Derek
200 Curtis
208 Rob Dawg
210 Bode
213 Shadash
217 Nick
222 Majeed
223 Joe
With slightly more inventory, similar pricing and rates, and pent-up everything, the 2024 Selling Season should be as hot as it was last year. This week, I had buyers survive an 8-offer bidding war and win by submitting the now-customary $100,000+ over the list price, and there have been crazier sales already:
Haha. The customary 100k+ over list price. Love your info Jim.
Since peaking in October, mortgage rates have retreated from 2023 highs and applications for purchase loans have been trending up. The bad news is that “doesn’t change the reality that what is happening with home prices and affordability is absolutely playing into total sales,” Wolf said.
“If you’re operating in Austin, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Francisco listings are actually above where they were pre-pandemic,” Wolf noted. “If you’re in Nashville, Phoenix, Tampa, Orlando, we’re just modestly below the level of pre-pandemic times. But markets like Baltimore, here in New York, San Diego, Detroit, Vegas [listings] are down 40 to 50 percent.”