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April sales are down 28 transactions from last April for a 7% decrease. That brings year to date closing to 1282, just six more that this time last year. Yes April was down, but it was also the second best April in six or more years.
Active Listings were steady this month, dropping only 17. But the number of active listing is down 250 from this time last year. Listings in the lower price ranges are getting hard to find, with only 10 active listing total prices at $150,000 and below. Of course you will see about 50 more signs than that, being there are currently 49 in this price range under contract. 83% of them with contracts on them. If we had that same Percentage in the top three price ranges ($500,000 and above) there would be 310 pendings instead of 86.

The big news this month is the number of Pending Contracts, 799. At first when doing the searches, it did not seem we had 48 more contracts than last month, every price range was close to where they were in march until the $400,000-$500,000 ranch. 24 of the 48 more contracts pending were in this two price ranges. We also came up one contract short, at the time I searched, of the magic 800 pending contracts. We have only made that number three times in back to back months in Spring of 2013. I was thinking how great May should be, because back then the closing numbers were at half or a little less than the number of pending contracts, which we have improved on since 2013. But it looks like we are back on that trend this year. with our best ratio in the first four months is 50%, with the other three months in 40% range of number of closings compared to pending contract numbers.
I wish I knew what the reasons are, if they are busting from inspections, appraisals, loans, or other reasons. 

The average price for April feel below $300,000 for the first time this year. But we only had one million plus home close in April compared to an average of five a month the first three months, and some big ones at that. The YTD average is still over $300,000 and our YTD Median price is at $249,750.

Going to be interesting watching the numbers this year.


Click here for The Preston Report for April

This year's march was comparable to last March in number of sales. Which makes Year to date closings for the Edmond area up 32 Transactions or up 3.74% over the first quarter last year. March's Average price like January and February was over $300,000. Making the year to date average price $311,138. Being we have not been over $300,000 on average price it is good to see it three months in a row. Of course that could be from the increase in larger homes and decrease in smaller ones and not all appreciation.

Active Listings are at the lowest levels in four years. Not since 2014, 2015 have we been down to this many homes on the market. We are even down 8 listings from February, which this time of year we are usually going up in active listings.
Of Course since February the price ranges below $275,000 have dropped 37 total active listings. And the Price ranges 275,000 gained 28 more active listings. giving an overall down 8 listings. A lot of that increase is in new homes. They were up 9 listings since February, down 19 under $250,000 and up 28 over $250,000.

pending listings match the six year high level with 751 contracts pending. Be nice if they all closed we would have our first plus 500 closing month. But some are under contract longer and the bust ratio reduces the closing numbers of course. teh $175,000 to $200,000 price range has 94 Pending contracts, coming close to the first time a price range hitting 100 contracts. that may be a milestone hit this year.

Over Million dollar homes had 15 closings in the first quarter, which is traditionally the slowest quarter of the year. That puts us on tract for a 60 closing year for that price range, which would be a record. Something to watch this year.

Click here for the March Preston Report

What a great February. It was the best Febraury for the last six years with 298 closed transactions. 52 more closings than the average for the last five years and 22 more than the previous best.
Even new homes saw the best February for six years in closings. And with an average price over $300,000 for the second month ever.

Active Listings stayed steady, just when they start to go up.and pending contracts steady for the last six years and up from this time last year. 
The lower price ranges are getting hard to find a home with little active inventory and six times as much under contract. The absorption rate for $125,000 to $150,000 is five days, not weeks or months, but yes days.
Out of the 1287 active listings this month only 13 are under $150,000. Times have changed, remember when the paper published every closing over $100,000!
There are currently 42 contracts pending on homes between $500,000 and $700,000.

We should have some good months coming based on the pending contracts. 

Things have been good which is why it is taking me so long to get reports out, BUSY!! :)

Click here for The Preston Report February 2019

Sign of the times of how busy it is when I am getting the January report out in April.

This will be a short message so I can get to work on February's report.
January was up slightly from last year and typical for this month.
I have looked at February's number and that will be the big jump, the best February in the last six years and by a large margin. Of course it is still February and not close to the months to come.

Click here for the January Report

2018 is in the books and records set.not by much, but they are new records.

Most Closed Transactions in a year.  4406, beating 2017 by 60
Most Dollar volume closed with $1.272 Billion. $38 Million than the record set in 2015. and $63 Million more than last year.
Average sales price came in $2500 higher than the highest set in 2015. We were over $290,000 for most of the year but the end of the year it dropped to $288,000 for YTD.
Median sales price cam in at $240,000 matching the highest set in 2015.
We also have a record of the highest number of Realtors in Edmond with 945

The record could have been a little bit higher but December fell well short in numbers compared to the last five years.

Active listings are down to 1278, a good number, not back to the sellers market lows of 1050 in 2013 and 1051 in 2005. But best numbers since 2015 and a lot better than the 1900s we had in 2008 market.
Active listings is like a tale of two markets, in the same city. Different markets over and under $400,000, and under even more so under $175,000. There are only 28 active listings under $150,000. 12 of them under $100,000 and most of them are one bed condos. and only one pending in that price range. For a few years now we have had more Pending contracts in $100k to $175 then active listings. Which we never had in teh first 15 years I did this report. absorption rates for a couple of these price ranges is only two weeks. But if you are a buyer you find out it is more like 14 hours for a good house. 
You get u over $400,000 and you are looking at 7 plus months for absorption rates and a year and up for over $700,000.

Pending contracts are still down from the past, but that is from the MLS cleaning up the system and fining agents for not changing status more than deals busting. last two years our pending sales haven fallen but closed sales have hit records both years.

New Homes Active listing actually gain in net active listings by almost 40. even though the entire inventory dropped. getting ready for the spring market. the New home price range of $200,000 to $250,000 went from 79 in November to 102 homes on the market. They are still down compared to overall sales from 2014 numbers. below 25% of entire sales volume compared to a third of the market which was customary from 2000 to 2013. but the over million dollar new homes have been seeing about six deals a year the last couple of years. instead of the same 5-6 homes sitting on the market.

So now it is time to start working on 2019. Listings down and prices up, maybe i will be reporting another record year next year. I know some realtors and sellers have said market is down because their numbers are down or can not sale their home. but That is why i do this report, liek Joe Friday, just the facts. Show the numbers and not what is happening to me alone is the true market.

Click here for the End of Year Preston Report for 2018

November Sales for the Edmond area was down 24 transaction from last November, or down 7.7%. But that was off a record November, and this November was the second best in the last six years. Year to date sales are up 77 transactions from 2017, up 1.9%. So we are on track for a record setting year. It would have to be a very bad December to not hit the record, and being pending contracts are up from last month, signs are pointing to a record year!
Active listing took a big drop from last month, from 1488 to 1373. The First Time we have been under 1400 Listings since the Spring of 2015. 
With the down active listings and a record year, absorption rates are down almost across the board. almost. New homes between $450,000 and $500,000 are at even higher numbers than the spring or summer months. 
I wish everyone A Merry Christmas and here is to a Happy New Year with record setting Closings! 

Click Here for the November 2018 Preston Report

Edmond Deer Creek residential sales are up 19 transactions over last October. Bringing year to date sales up 2.3% from 2017. A difference of 89 closed transactions, 3810 this year compared to 3721 for 2017.
Active listing are at 1488 down 23 from last month and down 28 from this time last year. pending contracts are down 65 from last month, which is usual this time of year. But they are up 34 transactions from this time last year.

The lower price ranges are getting even lighter on the number of homes on the market. Everything under $150,000 is in single digit inventory. matter of fact in the $125,000 to $150,000 for the first time since doing this report a price range absorption rate is under two weeks. That price range absorption rate is 10.3 days. meaning to absorb the current inventory based on the last 12 months of sale history, we would sale all those houses in 10 days. the over million dollar homes wish their absorption rate was 10 months, not even days. That price range i can not even but on graph because you would not be able to read the other price range ranges, it is over two years right now.

If we keep on track or even down 10% per month for the next two months, we will set another record year for residential sales for the Edmond Area. It does not seem it to some realtors and higher priced range homes. But in both instances there is a lot of competition. Record number of Realtors and a bunch of homes on the market. It will be interesting to see how next year plays out.

Click here for the October 2018 Preston Report

September saw it's usual drop to start the fall drop in sales from the summer. But this year it dropped more than usual from not only August numbers but compared to last September. We had 322 closed deals this September compared to 372 last year. a drop of 50 transactions or down 13.4%. that is almost two fewer transactions per day, compared to last year. Year to date sales are still up 59 closed transactions compared to last years record setting number. Pending contracts are down only 12 from last year though. Active listings are at the same number they were in August and way below last September, by almost two hundred listings. 

New homes sales are down 23% from last September, 67 compared to 87 last year. A trend for the last couple of years. Year to date sales is down 51 closed deals or 7%, compared to last year. As I said, total sales are up 59 closings, so existing sales are up 110 transactions from year with that much down for new homes. You have heard me say before that Sales volume for new homes accounted for about a third or 33% of the total sales volume for over 15 years. But the last couple of years it has fallen to 25% and currently at 22%.
Here is a comparison of year to date (Jan 1st thru Sept 30th) total sales and new home sales for this year, last year, and the year before the drop in new home sales.

                      Total sales           New home sales
2014                   3395                      876
2017                   3400                      721
2018                   3459                      670

Even though total sales are close to the same. new home sales have dropped by 206 closed deals in same time frame. I have wondered if it is people are DIY renovation or buying the flips that are fixed up to max like new? 

You will also notice the changes in absorption rates in new homes between $300,000 and $700,000. they all had an increase in listing and a big drop in closing which extend the absorption rate. The $700,000 to $999,999 price range saw a big drop because of the combination of a drop in active listing and a great closing month in September for that price range.

Have a good Trick or Treat

Click here for September Preston Report

Another great month, August was the best one we have had for six years if not ever.
451 Closed transactions for the Edmond area. up 16 over last year. Bringing Year to date closing to 3135, up 107 transactions over last years record setting year.
Active Listings dropped by 15 from July, and Pending were down 46. But in all the years I have done this report, this was the closest Sold came to Pending in most all price ranges. Most of them had as many closings as we had pending the month before. Which is great news.
Active listings may be at a good number but there is a big difference depending upon your pricing and condition of house. seems like everything is selling fast or sitting forever. It is hard to tell by days on market.
Because the days on market is just for that listings. Sellers may change realtors, or realtors reenter it to restart days on market. 
The average days on market for the 3135 homes that sold this year is 52 days with a median of only 26 days. the current active inventory days on market is 85 days with a median of 63 days. But the absorption rate for the entire market is currently at 4 months. meaning based on the last 12 months closings it would take four months to absorb the current inventory. of course we have 10-20 new listings come up daily. Pricing is so important to getting a quick sale, and even in some cases that does not even work. it has been an unusual year. Numbers show us heading to a record year but people talking about how slow it is. Of course since the last time i talked about another 100 realtors have become active in Edmond bring the total to 950. almost one out of every one hundred people in Edmond is a Realtor now!!  Interview your agent and make sure you are getting someone with the knowledge to handle your biggest investment.

New homes have been following their trend of the last two years, with new homes sales down 20% for august form this time last year. and last August was not a good month for them. Only 68 closed transactions report for new Homes in August, down 17 from last August. 

Click here for August Preston Report

Slow and Steady on increasing sales. On track for beating last years record numbers.

July had 28 more closed transactions than last year, an increase of 6.29%. Year to Date sales is up 89 Transactions from last year, an increase of $3.43%.
Active Listings also dropped earlier than normal for this time of year. which is great. and average prices are soaring with YTD average price up to $292,000.

But the trend for the last couple of years and holding the same, and that is new homes are down.
Even though July was the best sales July in six years, it was the worse for new homes in six years. the bar graphs will show that in the closed units for both. Which means existing sales are not only making up the fall in new home sales bt even coming in stronger to max overall sales up even with the down turn in new home closings.

Could be the prices of construction is getting to high for some, or after the last crunch people are looking for more for their money, or HGTV has a DIY attitude in buyers. wish i could say which or something else causing it. 

Still a bunch of bigger homes on the market.  YTD average sales price is $292,000 and the median is $245,000,  But to show the difference i pulled up for active listings and the average asking price is $437,100 and the median is $333,000

To check out all the numbers click Here for The Preston Report