Springfield, Missouri. The way I see it, I think our market is starting to recover. Over the past year, I have seen prices plummet by 10-20%. The sheer volume of pricing opinions that banks and asset managers have requested is starting to wane. In early 2009, I was doing 8-10 price reviews per week. Since the beginning of April, those numbers have dropped to less than half. Most, if not all, of these pricing opinions were solicited by mortgage companies that were in the initial stages of foreclosure on properties.
In this market, the price range under $ 150,000 lost less in percentage terms than higher-priced homes. Many of our foreclosed homes were the result of a company’s marketing plan in the subdivisions that they traded. For the most part, as of this writing, many of those homes have been sold to traders or investors.
From an analytical standpoint, we forecast that our market lost an average of 1% per month for the first 5 months of 2009. Now, we are seeing a little relief. After some research, it appears that we are closer to 75% than 1%. Not only that, but according to the NAR, April showed a 2.9% improvement in home sales. Lawrence Yun, chief economist at NAR, said there has been a seasonal increase in sales. “Most of the sales are in lower price ranges and activity is starting to pick up in the mid price ranges, but high-end home sales remain sluggish.” NAR President Charles McMillan, a broker for Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Dallas-Fort Worth, said conditions are good for buying. “We have historically low mortgage rates, a wide selection of homes, and affordable prices in most areas,” he said. “When you add the $ 8,000 first-time buyer tax credit, it’s hard to imagine a better time to make an investment in your future through homeownership.” Only the Midwest saw a decline, or 2.0 percent.
