Signs of Market turning UP

Realty Viewpoint: Real-time Housing Composite Shows Possible Bottom Near
by Blanche Evans
The Altos 10-City Composite Index was down 1.7 percent for the first quarter of 2008, with most of the decline occurring in March (1.3 percent.)
The index tracks homes for sale in 23 metros through real-time listing prices. (Editor's note: The 10-city composite uses the same metro data as the S & P Case-Shiller Index for Denver, Boston, Miami, San Diego, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Washington, DC, Chicago, New York, and San Francisco. Other cities such as Dallas are calculated separately and will be included in a future 20-city index, once again mirroring the Case-Shiller metros, says Altos. The 20-city index is expanded to include Atlanta, Charlotte, Cleveland, Dallas, Detroit, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Portland, Seattle, and Tampa.)
The largest declines were in San Francisco (off 5.2 percent) and Las Vegas (off 5.2 percent) while southern cities Houston, Dallas, and Charlotte saw modest price increases of one percent or more for the quarter.
Asking prices went down in 14 of 23 markets during March, with Chicago reporting the largest drop in listing prices (off 3.9 percent.)
What's causing prices to drop are expanding inventories of homes for sale in all the composite cities. Chicago's listings for sale increased 12.3 percent.
At the same time, days on market improved with homes languishing 118 on average, down from 121 in February and 124 in January. The cities with the longest days on market were Miami and Detroit, both at 146 days. The fastest turnovers were in San Francisco (65 days on market) and Austin, Texas (67 days on market.)
What these figures suggest to me is that we're getting closer to a bottom.
Published in Realty Times April 4, 2008 Read the rest of the article at

http://realtytimes.com/rtpages/20080404_realtyviewpoint.htm

Locally, the number of sold single family homes year-to-date, January to March 31st is down 17% from 1Q last year. However, at the end of February it was down 20% suggesting the market is improving here in Central Ohio.

Currently there are 13,000 single family homes on the market and 2,900 condos listed in the Columbus Board of Realtors MLS system.

Showings have increased in the past 2 months and several lenders have indicated a higher number of new loans in process for buyers.

Jim Lubinsky & Angela Williams
The Lubinsky Team
Re/Max Affiliates
614-766-5330 ext 119