April 30th of 2010 ended the eligibility for the home buyer tax credit. No big surprise that home sales were down year over year as a result. Year to date sales are down 2.8% year over year. I think this is pretty good considering the unnatural boost that happened in 2010 due to the credit.
Inventory is down to 10 months in Salem proper. Last month it was 12 months, which means buyers were out at we ate up two months of inventory in just one month. Remember the goal is to get down to 6 months, which is that coveted normal inventory benchmark.
Home prices dropped just like in previous months. Again, this wasn’t unexpected as we all know home prices were a bit inflated due to the tax credit of last year. I think home prices are finally starting to get more inline with Salem incomes, but unemployment remains a problem which has impacted the market recovery. The demand for lease options and owner financing has skyrocketed here locally with few sellers able to offer those options.
Improvement is happening in the market, but it will be a long slow process ahead.
Data in this blog was crunched from data provided by the WVMLS.