ADA COUNTY MARKET UPDATE

The expiration of the home buyer tax credit generated the most sales in a single month for Ada County since July of ’07.

April ’10 sales were 667 houses; 58% more than April ’09 and 56% more than April ’08. We have now experienced eleven consecutive months of year-over-year increases. I’m going out on a limb and calling this a real recovery!

Pending Sales at the end of April suggest we are not done yet…remembering that we had to get buyers into a binding contract by April 30 and closed by June 30. There were 1162 sales pending at the end of April compared to 1072 at the end of March…an 8% increase.

Median price dropped in April to $150,000. This is down 12% from January ’10 and down 15% from April ’09. Part of this number is likely from the crush of first time buyers wanting to get in before the tax credit expired (and who typically are buying in the <$120,000 price range.

Unfortunately, the other key driver is that 50% of all sales in April were distressed.

Interestingly…as median for existing home stock dropped almost 5% from March to April…new home’s median price increased 3% for the same period.

Inventory at the end of April was 3,567…pretty close to June 2006 levels.

Buyers of homes $250,000 exceeding 10% of total sales for the first time in a long time.

Numerous news sources commented on our distressed properties in April. According to the numbers that I have…we continue to see slight improvement… At the end of April 47% of all listed properties were distressed. BUT…only 39% of all pending sales are in the same condition.