It’s time for Friday Figures! All information from the GLVAR MLS system. Here is what you and your Realtor should know before touring, making an offer, or listing a home this weekend.

Summary:  Available houses fell below 12,000 for the first time since 2006 as bargain hunters snap up the best deals (assuming they didn’t bid it up in the process). Fewer than 16,000 total units are available! Inventory of both short sale and bank owned homes is down, and inventory in almost all price ranges is down. As would be expected, pending sales continue to rise, now topping out over 12,000. Median prices on available and contingent homes is stable or rising slightly. As for recently sold homes, we don’t have a second week of rising prices. What we do have is a situation where median sales price is greater than median list price, evidence of multiple offers and bidding wars.

Available listings for sale:  There are only 11954 available single family homes, 3762 condominiums and townhomes. Current median list price rose to $166,217, and median time on market is 109 days. Of those, 8755 are vacant (well over half), 5195 are owner occupied, and 1766 are tenant occupied.

Distressed Properties: Of those listings, 6271 are noted as short sales and 3778 are bank-owned.  Median price for a short sale is down slightly to $139,900; Median price on bank-owned is only slightly up at $115,500. Non-distressed properties for sale had a median price of $334,490.

Contingent and Pending listings:  Properties in the process of being purchased are 10066 single family homes, 2020 condos and townhomes. Median asking price of contingent houses remains stable a third week at $149,900; median asking price of contingent condos/townhomes is up slightly at $74,500. The accepted price is confidential until the sale closes.

Single Family Home Prices: Of available listings, 233 under $50,000; 1735 between $50,000-$100,000; 4965 between $100,000-$200,000; 3456 between $200,000-$500,000; 972 between $500,000-$1,000,000; and 757 over $1,000,000. Every category save million dollar plus has reduced inventory. Median price on an available single family home rose to to $179,900; median price per square foot is up at $94.

Condo and Townhome Prices: 479 under $50,000; 1283 between $50,000-$100,000; 1058 between $100,000-$200,000; 600 between $200,000-$500,000; 259 between $500,000-$1,000,000; and 150 over $1,000,000. Median asking price on these units is upat $114,900; median price per square foot is unchanged at $98. 

Recently sold: Another 670 properties have closed in the last week. 3925 have closed in the last 30 days and 14321 have closed since the first of the year. Of the properties closed in the last week, 85 properties were on the market less than a week; 66 were on the market more than 6 months; median was 46 days (median time on market including the contingent period was 123 days). Median sales dropped to $127,000 and median list price dropped to $126,990. Even though these numbers are down over last week, the important thing is that median actual sales price was above median list price.

Rentals: 4767 homes, townhomes, and condos were available for rent in the Valley according to the MLS system. There are 567 contingent leases and 1733 leases signed in the last 30 days. 

Other information: Someone else’s take on the idea that the first time home buyer’s tax credit can be used towards a down-payment; Update — the idea of using the first time buyer tax credit as a downpayment has officially been killed; remember, other programs are available, so be sure to ask your mortgage professional!

To find your home, to help sell your home, or just to learn more please click the “Contact Me!” link in the sidebar.  You can also call the number at the top of the page. Friday Figures is published by Bridget Magnus on BridgetMagnus.com and is her property, even though any GLVAR Realtor can access this data.