December 2009 San Antonio Realty Market Report

“May you live in interesting times.” Is it a blessing or a curse?

Across the Nation this year, home buying and selling has been interesting to say the least. Cursed with excessive foreclosures, rigid mortgage lending requirements, lackluster job markets, sluggish home sales and rapidly falling home values, is it any wonder that home buyers and sellers, not to mention their Realtors®, are tired of the curses of 2009’s interesting times.

It’s not so in San Antonio! The Alamo City will close 2009 having one of the Nation’s healthiest large metropolitan economies. Projections for 2010 indicate the area’s immediate future is highly favorable for strong economic growth, low unemployment, and a continuing strong infusion of the monetary and human resources needed to build an even more economically vibrant city.

That said, this year, San Antonio’s housing market was punched around a bit by the national economic downturn. Although home foreclosures went up and average home values went slightly down, recent Federal economic recovery initiatives (like the Tax Credit Program For Home Buyers) appear to be slowing and perhaps reversing those trends.

Here are the relevant market indicators for San Antonio single-family detached homes as of December 8, 2009:

There are 10977 active listings compared to 12603 last year. The inventory is decreasing slowly. That’s a good sign for home sellers and indicates a healthy trend toward achieving a balanced housing supply.

The average sales price for the most recent closings is $180,040 compared to $186,084 last year. The drop in average sales price has, for the most part, been driven by the purchase of a large number of less expensive properties by first time home buyers capitalizing on the recent up to $8000 First Time Home Buyer Federal Tax Credit Program. It remains to be seen how the recent continuation and expansion of the program will impact on San Antonio’s housing market.

The average cumulative days-on-the-market (CDOM) for the most recent sales is 127 compared to 117 last year. During 2009, CDOM figures have been unacceptably high, but have recently trended downward. That’s a positive sign for San Antonio home sellers specifically, and the realty market, generally.

Industry analysts see these data as reflecting a housing market continuing to strongly favor buyers over sellers but trending toward a more balanced market in late winter or early next spring.

That’s all for our December 2009 San Antonio realty market report. In closing, we wish you and yours the happiest of holidays and a healthy and prosperous new year.

We’re Stephanie and Randy Kelley, Realtors® at Keller Williams Legacy, San Antonio, Texas. If you have questions, need San Antonio realty or mortgage loan advice or assistance, or just want to chat, please call us at (210) 863-2661 or (210) 867-8763, or E-mail us at swkrealtor@aol.com or kelleybus@aol.com. Our SanAntonioHomeQuest.com Realty Solutions Team is always ready to help you with our home buying or selling needs.

Visit Our Website View Our Newsletter Ask Us A Question