The stats are from the Greater Cincinnati Multiple Listing Service, for Butler, Warren, Hamilton and Clermont counties.  Ready ?? Here goes!!

In the last 6 months, 7/04/08 – 12/31/08

Single Family Sales – 7084
Average List Price – $175,559
Average Sales Price – $166,517

Same 6 month time frame, one year ago, 7/04/07 – 12/31/07

Single Family Sales – 8299
Average List Price – $192,137
Average Sales Price $184,137         

              1,215 fewer sales with a $17,620 drop in average sales price. Wow!

It’s the last day of the month, and hopefully around town, a few closings are taking place at real estate and title company offices.  Those closings, when entered into the MLS on Monday after the New Year’s Holiday weekend will bring the final numbers up a bit for year end. The truth is, probably not enough to really make more than a “blip”, and certainly not enough to change the trend. So, read on if you’re feeling brave!

The following stats are all for Butler, Warren, Hamilton and Clermont Counties Combined. Single Family & Condo Sales Combined. Of course, all information is from The Greater Cincinnati Multiple Listing Service

1/01/08 – 12/31/08     Sales – 16,805 
Average List Price – $177,011       Average Sale Price – $168,355
4421 of the sales are noted as “Lender Owned, Government Owned, or Seller’s Lender Approval Required”

01/01/07 – 12/31/07     Sales – 19,967
Average List Price – $187,832       Average Sale Price – $180,394
3786 of the sales are noted as “Lender Owned, Government Owned, or Seller’s Lender Approval Required”

01/01/06 – 12/31/06     Sales – 22,706
Average List Price – $189,780       Average Sale Price – $184,071
3118 of the sales are noted as “Lender Owned, Government Owned, or Seller’s Lender Approval Required”

01/01/05 – 12/31/05     Sales – 24,203
Average List Price – $190,242       Average Sale Price – $185,164
339 of the sales are noted as “Lender Owned, Government Owned, or Seller’s Lender Approval Required”  

**Disclosure of Memory Failure Alert Here**  The Multiple Listing Service didn’t always have a search function for “short sale/lender approval”. That was added at some point when short sales became more frequent, rather than the “exception”.  I honestly can’t remember when it was added, but you can see the obvious huge jump in numbers 2006 from 2005, when as I said before, we could see that something was on the horizon, about to cause a major shift in the market.

01/01/04 – 12/31/04 Sales – 23,407
Average List Price – $182,607       Average Sale Price – $177,786
182 of the sales are noted as “Lender Owned or Government Owned”

What’s it all mean? It means that if you want to sell your home, you need to “get serious”. Check out our “Serious Sellers” Satisfaction Package!    We CAN Get Results!

More Cincinnati real estate information can be found at RealCincy.com

With homes on the market for 6 months, a year, even two years, you may have started to hear talk about the market in terms of “Absorption Rate”.  The absorption rate is the time it takes to “absorb” an individual home into the market.  Another way to state the same concept is that the absorption rate is the answer to the question of “how many months of inventory is currently on the market?”  It’s simply a mathematical representation of supply and demand.  The computation can be simple or complex.  I’ve seen absorption rates calculated a couple of different ways.  You can have variables in time, or by zip code, by price range, or by subdivision.  Simply put: The total number of available homes, divided by the total number of sales the previous month, results in the absorption rate.

I think that for the best overall view, to have real meaningful results, we start a little wide, looking at the general area.  We then look at your neighborhood and price range.

The Greater Cincinnati Multiple Listing Service states that a “Balanced Market” is 4 – 5 months of inventory.  A seller’s market is a 1 – 4 month absorption rate.  A buyer’s market is a 7+ months of inventory.

Let’s take a look at the current absorption rate for a couple of Greater Cincinnati’s communities, with information current as of this writing.
Starting with the Union Township and Eastgate area in Clermont County:
Total number of available homes: 269
Total number of homes under contract in the last 30 days: 27

Absorption Rate: 269 / 27 = 9.96 months

Let’s take it to a neighborhood of homes valued about $175,000 – $220,000.
Total number of available homes: 45    45 Homeowners competing for the same buyer!
Total number of homes under contract in the last 30 days:  5   

Absorption Rate: 45 / 5 = 9 months  Definately a Buyers Market!

Driving up and around I-275, to I-75 checking on homes located in the Mason School District to compare.
Total number of available homes:  379
Total number of homes under contract in the last 30 days:  40

Absorption Rate: 379 / 40= 9.48 months

Let’s take it to a neighborhood of homes valued about $350,000 – $450,000
Total number of homes available: 37
Total number of homes under contract in the last 30 days: 5

Absorption Rate: 37 / 5 = 7.4 months  Still a Buyers Market!

Carefully considering the absorption rate for your area, combined with information about “DOM”, pricing strategy, & market exposure, your home will sell in a timely manner.  Now is not the time to “just see” if the precious few buyers will meet your price, IF your asking price is not supported by market statistics.  So, do the math. Are you willing and able to make 6, 8, 14 more house payments, or delay your move by  7, 9, 15 months?

If you have any questions about your specific neighborhood, just let me know. I would be happy to obtain that information, and forward it to you. The Real Cincy Group can assist with your sale in both Ohio and Kentucky.

More Cincinnati real estate information can be found at RealCincy.com