The second week in July is typically San Antonio's realty market yearly high point. Many pending sales will close within the next 30 days. Uncommitted buyers with school age children must rush to find the right home in order to be able to close on their purchase or at least be under a binding contract before school starts.
This year, many factors are converging to make San Antonio's realty market exciting, interesting, and somewhat confusing.
Although the local economy is strong and population growth is high, home values in many neighborhoods have depreciated. Home sellers have lowered their list prices accordingly, but buyer response has been tepid and the inventory of homes for sale is growing at an unusually fast pace. Also, builders are offering enticing incentives in an effort to move their new home inventory more quickly.
Despite the fact that mortgage rates are the lowest since the 1950's and there is an ample supply of very reasonably priced homes to pick from, Realtors® report their current home buyer traffic has fallen well below expectations. Some are concerned that the end of the Federal home buyer tax credit programs may have signaled a long term lull in demand caused by faltering buyer confidence in the national economy.
It is difficult to reach conclusions as to the long term market trends, but in the short term, it's clear San Antonio's home market remains extremely favorable for buyers. As for sellers, the advantage will go to the seller most willing to reduce his or her price expectations and to expend the money, time, and effort to improve the property's condition and appearance.
For those who love the stats, here are the key indicators for San Antonio's single family detached home listings as of 11 July, 2010.
There are 12,948 active listings compared to 12,033 one year ago. The inventory is rising fast. That's a good sign for home buyers.
The average sales price for the most recent closings is $190,497, compared to last year's $189,785. The absence of any significant sales price appreciation is another good sign for buyers.
Average cumulative-days-on-the-market (CDOM) for the most recent sales is 121 compared to 137 last year. During 2009, CDOM figures were unacceptably high, but dropped fast during the Federal Tax credit home buying frenzy. It remains to be seen if cumulative market time will improve further, but a slight upward trend is possible. Nonetheless, for the time being, CDOM data is positive for San Antonio home sellers, specifically, and for San Antonio's realty market, generally.
Industry analysts see these data as reflecting a housing market strongly favoring buyers over sellers.
That's all for our 11 July 2010 San Antonio realty market report. We encourage reader comments and recommendations about how to make our reports more informative and useful.
We're Stephanie and Randy Kelley, Realtors® of 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 a bit about the wonderful Alamo City, please call us at (210) 863-2661 or (210) 867-8743, 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 your home buying or selling needs.
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