On a national basis, existing home sales are up (3.1%), and up almost double what was expected (1.6%).  Of course that’s still down substantially from last year (-13%).  Unfortunately, the inventory of available homes is up to a record level.  Some people blame this on a “buildup of condos“.  Bloomberg has condensed what all the economists are saying about these numbers for you.

It’s worth pointing out that although nationally we have inventory of 11.2 months, locally we have just under 7 months.  And for the record, that’s down from 25.5 months inventory at the beginning of the year!  I have mentioned this before, but new foreclosures and current escrow closings — the end of the home sale process — are at pretty close to equal levels. More than a few of the bank-owned homes are being bid up from list price.

There are other hopeful signs on the short sale front:  not only are banks coming to the conclusion that they had better approve these if they don’t want to own more houses, more than a few of my colleagues are going to the effort of learning how these sales work and how to make them happen for their clients.  Historically, short sales only close about a third of the time, and some people consider that number very optimistic.  For the record, I have successfully gotten short sale approval as both the listing agent and the buyers agent, and I have every confidence I can get the transaction done most of the time.  Bank owned and short sales account for roughly 55% of currently available listings as of last week.  Don’t let anybody tell you this number is higher without sharing his source of data.

As for the rest of the market, privately owned homes that require no lienholder’s approval, the sellers in general have more realistic expectations. They understand that they are competing against homes being sold by banks, and homes being sold at a loss.  They know they have to compete on condition, curb appeal, and being able to close a sale quickly.

The Vegas market isn’t doing too badly.  Your local real estate market may vary.  Since the availability of credit — the ability of ordinary people to get mortgages — is key to all our markets, let’s hope Mr. Buffet is exaggerating about the problems he sees at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.