Taking my own advice, I pulled some interesting stats!
This is my market, a community of approximately 500,000. Good new construction from more than a dozen major builders. Approximately 200,000 homes in the community with new construction accounting for more than 6,000 units per year.
January - October 2001 compared to January - October 2002
New listings ... 13,260 ... 15,098
Sales ... 7,454 ... 7,390
Avg Sales Price... $189,710 ... $197,040
As you can see, the listings are up; however, sales dropped by (0.9%) and the average sales price was up 3.9%. This is for existing homes only and did not include the nearly 6,000 new home sales. The average sales price of the new construction increased by more than 10% over the same period of time raising the over all rate to more than 6.5%
The median sales price was closer to $175,000 which indicates very affordable housing. Add to that the lowest interest rates in 37 years and BINGO....a strong market.
Now, I ask you.....since there were more listings than a year ago...does this mean the market is slowing?
Since the average sales price went up...does this mean the market is improving?
Since the price of gasoline and food is lower than a year ago, does this mean the economy is good?
Since the stock market has advanced nearly 27% over the past 90 days does this mean the market has bottomed out and we are in recovery?
Do liers figure and figures lie?