Sales in the Des Moines market may be off there heady peaks of 2005 and 2006 but fortunately we here in Des Moines have been somehwat insulated from the sever slowdowns experienced elsewhere.

According to local board data release in the beginning of June:

Despite the near daily news in the press chronicling the legal imbroglios many local home builders are undergoing, overall area sales remain solid and there is steady buying.

It's important to place the current housing market in perspective: 2007 will be the fifth highest year on record for existing-home sales nationwide.

The average sale price of Des Moines-area homes has steadily increased the last three months and was up more than $5,000 in September (compared to September 2006).

Average days on market continues to stay well below the high of 96 days earlier this year.

Active listings remain high, indicating a greater selection of homes in all price ranges.

Iowa was one of just six states to post higher existing-home sales during this year's second quarter, increasing 4.1 percent over Q2 2006.

The Federal Reserve in September cut its benchmark interest rate a half point, the first rate cut in four years.
Ongoing improvement in the mortgage market is favorable for 2008 home sales.

Nationwide, home sales are returning to fundamentally healthy levels while prices remain steady, reflecting favorable mortgage rates and positive job gains.

Remember that all real estate is local and naturally large variations often occur within a given area.

The best advise for consumers is to consult a REALTOR® to learn about local market conditions, as supply and demand can change from one neighborhood to the next.

Hubbell Realty announced on Thursday 10/25/07 that it will convert a former transmission business into 31 condominiums priced from $145,000 - $300,000, according to a Donelle Eller of the Des Moines Register. The article quoted Hubbell spokesperson Jarad Bernstein as saying "Housing may not be selling as fast as developers like, but it's not a soft market."

Hubbell apparently believes this even though the same article cites Des Moines Area Association of Realtors stats that say days on market for downtown units has risen from 161 to 277, a whopping 72% increase, and that only 48 units were sold downtown from January to September of this year. According to DMAAR there are 352 downtown condo units on the MLS, and I'm guessing a lot more available, just not listed. Looks like there's about a 67 MONTH SUPPLY OF CONDOS DOWNTOWN BEFORE THIS PROJECT IS BUILT! There's even more competiton for buyers now that several projects have been converted to high end rentals. Wow, it takes moxie to build into a slump like that.

Just last week, Iowa Appraisal and Research Corp announced their research showed there was a three to five year supply of condo units downtown and so recommended the former 456,000 sq ft Central Campus building not be converted to condos, according to a separate Register article.

My guess is that if you've been a downtown condo sales specialist you've branched out into other areas this year, and you may have fielded a few calls from your buyers who bought before the glut wondering why the same units they bought are selling for far less. There are many very nice projects downtown and some new residents that are very happy there. Downtown does offer a unique, urbane experience that bears some resemblance to larger urban areas in the country. Quality of life is really what matters the most, and you can't put a price on that.

Hold on to your hats folks! Recent data from the Des Moines Area Association of Realtors showed Remax has passed 800 pound gorilla Iowa Realty to grab the top slot for unit sales in Des Moines from 01/01/07 t0 07/31/07 of this year. According to DMAAR Remax offices sold 1,523 units vs. Iowa Realty's 1,476.

I'm not sure of the exact numbers but I think Remax has around 250-300 agents as opposed to over 500 at Iowa Realty.

We're all cooperating out here on the streets, but it's nice to kick a little $%#$ on the board! Way to go Remax agents, don't rest on your laurels just yet!

Des Moines MLS unit sales slid 14.3% from last year, according to data from the Des Moines Area Association of Realtors. Unit sales for this September were 756 units, compared to 882 sold last year.

Pending sales softened as well with 513 pending this year vs. 595 pending last year. Average days on market rose from 75 in '06 to 84 in '07. The number of listings available also mushroomed from 5,785 to 6,980, almost a 21% increase. Can you say "BAD NEWS"

The rhetoric from home builders, the board, agents and area brokers has definately changed in my opinion. Earlier this year there was a palpable sense of denial, even in the face of hard data reflecting a slowdown. It used to be when negative numbers came in opinion makers fell back on "well 2005 was such a good year, it was simply not sustianable. We look for sales to pick up in the spring/summer/fall/next quarter, etc." Now that those dates have come and gone, and the slowdown continues, there are fewer rosy predictions. A report on the sales slowdown in yesterday's Des Moines Register only merited a few simple lines of text and a table, and yet the information presented was the most striking so far.

In the real estate industry we tend towards optimism, so much so that we are often parodied for it. Around here there seem to be a lot fewer optimists now that the leaves, and homes sales are falling. My days on market for homes sold in the past year has risen as well, from 34 days on market, to 39 days on market.

Top of the fold on Tuesday in the Des Moines Register was a Megan Hawkins story detailing the Des Moines school district's desire to perhaps divest itself of the 91 year old Central Campus Building located on the western edge of downtown Des Moines at 1800 Grand Ave. The building started life as a Ford Motor assembly plant and was later used by Solar Aircraft until its purchase by the school district in 1950.

As you can imagine the building might need to be remodeled. The school district estimates $60 million for their purposes and the 10 year sales tax won't cover that. So they're pitching a sale as in everyone's best interests.

The article stated that appraisers for Iowa Appraisal and Research Corp have put the value of the land at $1.6 milion and land and building at $2.9 million. In preparing their value they considered several scenarios, among them converting the buildings to condos or lofts, but found that " there is now a surplus of units in the marketplace ," that could keep demand soft "for the next three to five years, if not longer," according to the Register article. That's really bad news for downtown condo dwellers and resellers from some folks who should know a thing or two about value. Iowa Appraisal added that they thought the cost of demolition would exceed their estimate of the property's value because of asbestos and other possible complications.

With several large corporate projects downtown in the last 10 years of over $100 million, and Wellmark's recent decision to build a $175 million facility four blocks away on the same street, one would think the school district could get more than the $2.9 million suggested by Iowa Appraisal and Research. But perhaps the gloom and doom from the appraisers and the school district is just a lot of groundwork for an already planned purpose.

So if you're interested in a 456,000 square foot building with great views of downtown Des Moines, I'd be happy to sit down and talk with you.

On October 16th a milestone was reached, for the first time in many years, all cooperating MLS Des Moines area brokerages were utilizing the same software platform. Up until the 16th, Iowa Realty and First Realty Prudential were using MLX by GEAC and pretty much everyone else was on Rappattoni MLS software.

What this meant for the public was that there was no central local source (realtor.com aside) where they could look at all the listings. They would have to go to Iowa Realty or First Realty to search those listings, and then go to another brokers website or the board site DMAAR.com to search the rest. I was told that we here in Des Moines were an anomoly and that other MLSs' around the nation did not allow for two systems.

Having used MLX at Iowa Realty and Rappattoni at Remax, I can say that both systems have positives and negatives. MLX seems to have improved their contact manager, a big plus, but there are a lot of screens involved with searches and setting up auto-search for prospects.

I'm sure many agents around Des Moines are busy this week moving their prospects, clients, past clients, and setting up saved searches. I was up until 1:30am moving my stuff, and I'm only about 10% done. Yikes! You can get a lot done at night when the phone isn't ringing, but all in all I'd rather be sleeping at that time.

Hopefully the Des Moines Area Association of Realtors will have the merged database available for the public sometime soon, but it hasn't happened yet.