National & Park City Local Real Estate Update

First of all, mortgage interest rates are still great, at the very low 4.25% for conforming 30 year loan. A 15 year loan is only at 3.25%. With low prices, and these low rates, and with decent amount of inventory to choose from, its a great time to be a buyer.

National Real Estate
According to the National Association of Realtors, in July Pended Home Sales Index slipped 1.3% to 89.7% in July from 90.9 in June, but is 14% above the index of July 2010. In Park City we did comparatively better in unit sales. Pended sales for Park City, looking at year January thru August of 2011, we are up by 21% (for unit sales pending) compared to the same time period in 2010. Compared to the same time period for 2009 we are up by 73%, and co pared to 2008 we are up by 53%. So we are looking better, working through the inventory. But still nothing quite like the good'ol days of 2007, where we are down by 25% in units pending, and may never se activity quite like that ever again.

A Few Stats on National July Existing Home Sales
Existing home sales fell in July by 3.5% to a SAAR of 4.67M homes down from 4.84M in June. Housing inventory rose to 9.4 months compared to a 9.2 months in June. National median price was $174K in July, down 4.4% from July 2010. Cash sales were 29% of all sales. Distressed sales accounted for 29% of sales in July.

Home Sales still Struggling with Financing
NAR President, Ron Phipps, said “for both mortgage credit and home appraisals, there’s been a parallel pendulum swing from very loose standards which led to the housing boom, to unnecessarily restrictive practices as an overreaction to the housing correction.” Contract failures due to a declined mortgage application or from appraised values coming in below the negotiated price were 16% in July.

Looking at Park City Closed Sales
For January thru August 2001 compared to
2010 - We are up by 24%
2009 - We are up by 39%
2008 - We are up by 41%
2007 - We are down by 30%

Demand for PC real estate continues to improve. Through August of 2011, pended sales are up 21% and closed sales are up 24% over the first eight months of 2010.

Absorption Rate inn Park City
Supply in Park City remains moderately elevated. We are currently at 17 months supply compared to 12 months supply in 2007 when we had a seller’s market.

Pricing in Park City Real Estate
Since the beginning of the year, Greater Park City real estate prices have been bouncing along the bottom and appear to have stabilized. This being said, our market is made up of a number of sub-markets. To understand price trends in your specific neighborhood I would be pleased to provide you additional information.