Confidence or Confusion

This morning I read an article about how consumer confidence is improving.

This comes on the heals of having talked with two business men in Lexington yesterday that are about to file bankruptcy. These are not men who speculated in the stock market or leveraged the equity in their homes. They simply did business as usual and the business slowed down so much they cannot pay the bills.

I came home yesterday worried for these men and worried for my community. My confidence in the economy took a nose dive yesterday and I am feeling much more a sense of confusion.

Yes, I have personally been successful the last two months helping first time buyers and investors.

However despite the increase of home sells the past couple of months in Central Kentucky I am still somewhat skeptical and these are the reasons why.

The increase of homes sales in Fayette county during the months of March and April was mostly in the homes priced at 250,000 and less.

There is still a glut of homes on the market. This is especially evident in home priced over $250,000. The thing to remember in looking at these numbers is anything over six months of inventory has traditionally been considered a buyer's market. Here is a sample:

• 250,000-299,999 12 months of inventory
• 350,000-399,999 18 months of inventory
• 600,000-649,999 21 months of inventory
• 700,000-749,999 42 months of inventory

These numbers are from the monthly Rector Hayden Market Report. If you would like to receive this report just email me. Rector Hayden publishes this report for all of the counties in Central Kentucky.

Paul Campbell

pcampbell@rhr.com

8596845890