Have we set a new record?

It seems to have happened sooner than I anticipated! I thought we would see two more weeks of growing inventory or available homes and condos on the market before the record numbers started their seasonal decline. According to HousingTracker, as of the week ending August 6th the number of homes on the market declined from the previous week. From the July 30 record high of 18,454 homes on the market we saw a decline of 162 to 18,292. Compared to a year ago at this time, current inventory is 2.7 percent higher. As you can see from the attached chart, the build-up last year was more rapid and the decline happened almost as quickly. This year, although the market exceeded the maximum number of homes on the market in August 2005, the build-up was a bit more gradual. It will be interesting to see if we plateau for a few weeks before starting to see the number of homes on the market decline.

During the past week, according to HousingTracker, we saw a slight decline in the median asking price for available homes, from $385,000 to $384,900. Over the past month the median asking price has declined 1.3 percent and over the past year it has dropped 10.5 percent.
So far this summer our Jalone Real Estate Group has remained very busy but I anticipate a few weeks of quiet as families get ready to start a new school year. Our son, Mikie, started soccer practice yesterday and I can tell you the soccer equipment store we go to, Extreme Soccer, was full of parents getting their kids ready for the new season. I doubt many of them were thinking about buying or selling real estate! Our schools start two weeks from today. It will be after

Labor Day before we should start seeing some new activity. Then, believe it or not, it is the rush into the holiday season.

Hey, I still want a few lazy days of summer!