Monmouth ended the year at an average home price of $180,887 and a median home price of $181,500 Monmouth home prices are about 11% higher than Independence and I think it shows in their year end numbers. Monmouth has an 8.6 month inventory which is higher than Independence.
The average and median home prices did drop 12.7% and 13.6% respectively from 2008 but it wasn’t enough.
Couple the drop in home prices with a 10% decrease in homes listed AND a 27.4% decrease in homes sold over 2008, and what you get is an ongoing supply and demand problem. Last year homes listed versus homes sold was 55.4% in Monmouth and this year it was 45.2%. Despite 
the number of homes listed going down, it just wasn’t enough.
Monmouth had been a fairly stable real estate market and while inventory is up, I don’t expect anything drastic for this small real estate market for 2010. I would expect some ongoing price declines and Monmouth may correct another 5% or so, but it has one of the lowest rates of distressed properties on the market, 7.6%, in the Salem metro area. Since employment in Monmouth is driven by the university, I wouldn’t expect to see a huge increase in foreclosures in this town.
P.S. Data used in this report was calculated from information provided by the WVMLS.