Weekly Market Report 10-3-08

This report pertains to residential homes on less than 10 acres sold from Sept 26th to Oct 2nd as reported by the Lebanon Board of Realtors MLS.

Over the last week there were 8 homes sold for a total of just over 1 million. The average price of these homes was almost 130 thousand with the median price at 140K; these homes had an average time on the market of 94 days. There are currently 9 homes listed as under contract in the Lebanon MLS and those homes have an average price of 111,000.

Year to date there have been 208 homes sold, that's down from last years 253 during the same time frame, the average price is 115 thousand dollars, which is the same as 2007.the YTD volume of 24 million is under last years 29.2 million. Our average time on the market this year has been 139 days, that's almost the same as last years 140 day average.

As of this morning there were 379 homes with less than 10 acres, listed with the Lebanon MLS compared to 360 last year in the same week. The average asking price is 149k with median asking price of just about 122; these homes have an average time on the market of 138 days.

Well like many other Americans I was happy to see our government come together finally and pass a substantial economic recovery bill. I believe we are all taking this with a grain of salt hoping that our nation will quickly begin to recover. Locally I believe we should all be grateful that our housing market continues are relatively stable in comparison to the rest of the country. Yes the total number of sales this year is down close to 17 percent but average values have recovered to the same average sale price as last year. Our inventories have stabilized over the last few months and there are still people buying. The biggest difference in our market today is buyer perception and seller motivation. Buyers are looking for a deal and there are some to be found, the smartest buyers are hiring a Buyers Agent and taking their time looking for a home that meets their needs and has a seller with the right level of motivation. Seller motivation is the other big factor, Serious sellers are also Hiring experienced full time realtors who are capable of exposing their homes to the largest number of qualified buyers in the market. Although the average sale price is the same as last year, we are seeing more sellers having to reduce their asking price. In fact, in looking at the list price to sale price ratios based on Original asking prices, our average is 91% this year compared to almost 95% in 2006. Regardless of the averages a good Realtor should be able help you overcome those numbers and sell your home.