Dayton Area Home Sales for March 2008
Single-family residential transactions in March rose 88 units, or 11.2%, over February’s total, as the spring selling season began to take shape. The 869 sales reported resulted in over $110 million in transactions. Compared to a year earlier, March’s figure represented a decline of 203 units, consistent with the recent lull in the market.
The average sale price per single-family unit is still holding remarkably steady. For March the average came in at $126,790, just 3% below the comparable figure of $130,741 a year earlier.
Year-to-date through the first quarter, 2,364 single-family properties have been reported as sold through the Board’s Multiple Listing Service, generating over $284.6 million in sales activity.
Year-to-date, the average sale price of $120,419 is just a 3.9% decline compared to last year, a far less significant decline than in many parts of the country. This illustrates once again that local home values are holding very steady.
Single-family listings added to the MLS in March totaled 2,142, a large drop-off of over 26% compared to the 2,911 from last March. This follows increases in listings in both January and February. This drop off in listings has contributed to a decline in the overall available MLS inventory. A decline in the supply of homes could have a positive upward affect on average sale prices, if the trend continues.
“There are many REALTORS® who are having an excellent year so far, and we hope that as the weather warms up, we’ll see even more consumers looking to take ownership of a new home,” stated Debra White, president of the Dayton Area Board of REALTORS®. “If the decline in home inventory continues, that should help push home values up. It means people out there are buying.”
The supply of listings at the end of March stood at 10.7-months based on March’s pace of sales. The supply ratio at the end of February stood at 12.2-months of available homes. In 2007 at the same time, the supply of single-family homes for sale stood at 9,512, and represented a supply of only 8.8 months.
Statistics compiled by John Junker, MLS Data Specialist