I just did the statistics for the Month of January home sales and the price increase over the last 12 months for free-standing homes was 5.8%. It is reflective of a downturn from December but it does remind me that, historically, over the last many years prices for homes have adjusted upward at a rate of around 5% a year. Perhaps we are back to that kind of stabilized market.
As I have pointed out previously, there is still a large inventory of homes in the valley that are “underwater” with the home owners owing more than their current market value. This may be bringing some stability to the number of foreclosures and short sales. Around 14% of the total market is distressed sales. That figure has also been fairly constant for the last while.
With this constant trickle of distressed sales likely to continue into the indefinite future it seems unlikely that the market as a whole will show more than modest increases. Of course if you are interested in distressed sales there will be many opportunities over the next few years.
That is it for now and by the way the weather is perfect here right now with the sun shining and the temperatures in the 70’s.
