Review of 2010 Lake Cumberland Home Sales.

Stoy by Phil Losey Senior

LAST YEAR'S STATISTICS 1/1/2010 thru 12/31/2010

Price Range Current# Of Av.# of Sales Selling Price Remaining #

Listings Per Month % of List Price Months

Jan. 2011 & Avg Days Inventory

On Market

0-$75,000 125 167/12=13.9 Information not 8.9

75-$100,000 98 86/12=7.1 available 13.8

100-$150,000 174 162/12=13.5 12.8

150-$300,000 211 150/12=12.5 16.88

300-4million up 79 16/12= 1.3 60

MARKET OBSERVATIONS FOR 2010

The market news for 2010 is not great for the Somerset-Lake Cumberland Region. However, it is better than the market in 2009, in general. After carefully examining our new MLS system, I came up with some interesting information. The system does leave some to be desired in data, but still had some useful information.

In 2010, all the offices sold a total of 581 homes that were reported in the MLS.At this time, there are 723 units on the market. To analyze sales, a little better, I broke homes down into 5 housing categories; as you can see from the chart. Homes from $0 to $75,000, sold at a rate of about 13.9per month, on average; this doesn't take into account seasonal variations. We have about 9 months inventory left in this category. The low middle group of $75,000 to $100,000, sold at a rate of 7.1 per month-again there is no accounting seasonal variation. We have about 14 months of inventory left over in this category. Homes which I arbitrarily labeled the middle group, from about $100,000 to $150,000, had 162 sales, or divided by 12, about 13.5 sold per month, not counting the season. This category has nearly 13 months of inventory left. Homes I called upper middle, from $150,000 to $300,000, sold at a clip of about 12 per month, leaving out the seasonal variable. There is still a 10 month supply ofthese homes available at this time. Homes over $300,000, as you would expect, sold the least with only about 1 and a half selling per month. Seventy-nine of these bigger homes are still on the market. This category has about 60 months of inventory left.

At first glance, and adding this to the national statistics, you could conclude that the market is still a buyers' market with a lot of inventory especially in the upper price ranges. However, a lot of houses sold last year, particularly in the three what I call bargain categories. Indeed, all categories had some positive results. Personally, one of the things I liked the best about 2010, had to do with lenders becoming more aggressive and helping buyers find loans. I sure don't like all the additional red tape, but overall, it seemed lenders were helpful and encouraging. Another thing that I liked, was the government extending the tax credit well past the first quarter last year. This really gave us, in the industry, a needed shot. Speaking of shots, interest remains low and prices on homes have held steady or declined. So if you're in the market for bargains, come out and start looking now! On a personal note, I am pleased with the accomplishments of my ERA Home Towne Realtors. We helped a lot of people, both buyers and sellers, find good deals, as I am sure a lot of other companies did, too. We here, at Home Towne Realty and Auction, are looking forward to an even better 2011. Thanks to all the customers and realtors we worked with in 2010.