Once again it’s time for Friday Figures! All information from the GLVAR MLS system. This is the real data with no spin you and your Realtor should know before touring, listing, or making a purchase offer on a home this weekend!

Summary: Available units edged up to 11087 while median prices were down notably for the first time in many months. Contingent listings were up slightly as well, with the number of contingent short sales declining. There is even evidence that more short sales are headed towards closing, although it will take well over 6 months to work through current contingent short listings at the current pace. All this is great news for everyone except maybe the banks. Closings were light this week just because of where we are in the month, but will probably pick up again next week. Time on market before accepting an offer is still under 30 days, which is remarkable since some institutional lenders won’t even look at the contracts until the property has been available 15 days. While I expect to continue seeing time on market in this range, it is likely that the prices of closed property will drop as the currently available units sell. List price and sale price will remain close until such time as consumers stop putting in dozens of offers on distressed, underpriced units.

Other Information: Bank of America may be number one… in home equity losses. Good news for our local economy, visits are up, even if gaming revenue is down. House Republicans are trying to make it harder to walk away from a severely underwater house (if passed it will kill home ownership; why would anybody sign a mortgage if you can’t get out of it even by letting the bank foreclose?) but want to keep it impossible for a bankruptcy judge to modify a mortgage.

Available Listings: There are 8970 single family homes (up), with a median price of $170,000 (down), $87 per square foot (unchanged), with median time on market of 69 days (unchanged). In addition, there are 2117 condominiums and townhomes (up), with a median price of $75,000 (unchanged), $69 per square foot (unchanged), and median time on market of 62 days (up).

Distressed Properties: Of available listings, there are 4644 short sales (up) and 2100 bank-owned properties (up). Median price for a short sale is $129,900 (down); median price on a bank-owned home is $128,000 (up). All short sale listings must be considered at risk of becoming bank owned properties whether they are available or contingent. The 4312 non-distressed properties for sale (up) had a median price of $224,900 (down). While many of the non-distressed properties are traditional sellers, many others were purchased less than 6 months ago as short sale or bank owned, and then renovated by investors.

Single Family Home Prices: Of available listings, 126 under $50,000; 1234 between $50,000-$100,000; 4298 between $100,000-$200,000; 2154 between $200,000-$400,000; 594 between $400,000-$700,000; 235 between $700,000-$1,000,000; and 472 over $1,000,000.

Condo and Townhome Prices: Of available listings, 441 under $50,000; 1064 between $50,000-$100,000; 523 between $100,000-$200,000; 114 between $200,000-$400,000; 19 between $400,000-$700,000; 5 between $700,000-$1,000,000; and 1 over $1,000,000.

Contingent and Pending listings: Of the 15873 properties in the process of being purchased (up), 12771 are single family homes with median price of $135,000 (unchanged); 3100 are condominiums or townhomes with median price of $65,000 (unchanged). Final negotiated sales prices are confidential until closing. Of the total, 11449 were short sale (down), 2716 were bank owned (up), and 1695 were non-distressed sales (down).

Recently sold: 599 properties closed in the last week, 3578 in the last 30 days, and 18309 so far this year. For properties closed in the last 30 days, median time on market was 29 days (unchanged, time on market including the contingent period was 112 days). Median sales price was $130,000 (unchanged); median list price was $129,900 (down). Short sales accounted for 1092 of them, there were 1377 bank owned properties, and 1106 non-distressed sales.

Rentals: 3762 homes, townhomes, and condos were available for rent in the Valley in the MLS system (down). Median square footage of these units is 1354 and median rent is $1100. There are 710 contingent leases waiting to be signed and 2207 leases signed in the last 30 days with median rent of $1150 and median square footage of 1527.

Need more information or help with your real estate needs? Call me today at 702-727-7842 or email bmagnus@bridgetmagnus.com. Although this information is available to all GLVAR members through the MLS system, this article was written and copyright by Bridget Magnus, and is her sole property.