Sudbury MA - Buyer's Market? Seller's Market? Who's Market Is It?

We keep hearing "it's a buyer's market, thousands of homes for sale, plummeting prices" etc. Well, that's true in other places, and I'm even hearing about inventory being absorbed in Florida, California, Las Vegas...anyway, in Sudbury MA, whether it's a buyer's market or not so much really depends on the price-range.

Overall, the number of single-family homes for sale is just about the same as last year at this time - there are 93; last year there were 92, not that many - the highest number of homes for sale that I remember was 180 in 1993 - most of those were new construction in sub-divisions including Willis Hills; and of course, there's no large parcels of land like that left to build on.

Within each price-range, there are greater variations. The two ranges with the largest increases are: the 1 million to $1,499,999 which has 21 homes for sale compared with 11 last year at this time; and, the number of homes from $700,000 to $799,900 has more than doubled - there are 11 for sale compared with just 5 on 2/12/09. There are 4 homes for sale between 3 million and $3,999,999 - last year at this time there were none. If you're looking in these price ranges, it's a buyer's market - more choices and most likely room for negotiation.

Inventory in most other prices ranges has decreased. there are only 4 hones for sale between $600,000 and $699,999 down from 10 one year ago. Between 500k and $599,999 there are 4 compared with 10 last year. While sellers may not be able to net as much as they would like to, the market is less favorable toward buyers than it has been recently.

2009 has been busy in Sudbury. there are 8 sales pending; and 8 currently active listing have accepted offers with contingencies waiting to clear, so really there are only 85 homes on the market unless of these comes back on. Year-to-date, there have been 13 closed sales, exactly the same number for the same period last year. The median price is up $625,000; the average is $615,992.

Visit www.MarilynMessenger.com for the latest local market condition reports for Sudbury, Wayland, Weston, Maynard and Stow MA, complete MLS home search, news and information to help you plan your next move. Market information for any other town e-mail marilynmessenger@realtor.com