I almost cut and pasted last months post!
If you look back to the August report our market is in much of the same state. One thing we all agreed on is that things will definitely change one way or the other in a couple of weeks after the election.
There are two factors behind that. One is the removal of uncertainty. Those of you in financial fields know that uncertainty equates to risk. In a couple of weeks we will have some resolution regarding leadership and direction for the next 4 years and we feel that will free up many folks to act.
The second is that after any Presidential election the point was made that basically half the folks are happy and half the folks are upset. This dynamic typically produces a good post election bump in activity.
So all in all we are looking for smooth, even sailing through the end of the year for our local real estate market.
Now for the numbers. We have 6,907 homes on the market in our region currently. That is down 28% (!) from last years 9,093 at the same time. Yet prices are still dead on flat. To understand more about this unusual economic reality I went into a good bit of detail in last months post for the reasons behind it. One telling statistic is the fact that we ranked 13th out of the top 15 markets with a tepid .4% (that’s point 4) job growth rate. This is largely related to the defunding of the military and it’s ancillary industries.
One last eye opening statistic came up about the real estate industry that really floored me. 90% of the new agents who get their real estate license are out of the business within 18 months!!!
I went around the room of our Platinum Club group to see how my 27 years in the business stacked up. While there are definitely some “newbies” in our group who are tearing it up I still found myself merely 5th in terms of experience. The moral of the story? When it’s time to buy or sell go with the folks with elite level market knowledge and long track records of excellence.
Enjoy the Fall!
It’s a good life.
Chris
