It’s my favorite day… statistics day! Let’s take a look at the month of May and how it measured up to last year, shall we? (Hint: it’s townhouse season.)
Single family homes were on par with last year but didn’t see much movement in any of the categories. The number of units sold had the most change with a 16.5% increase from 74 in May of 2018 to 92 last month. That’s a good amount of sales, I would say. They sold just a little more slowly, though, with the days on market going up 9.5% from 74 last year to 81 last month. That’s still less than three months on the market which is pretty darn quick. Let’s get to price where there was virtually no change in the average sales price from May of 2018 which was $298,373 to May of 2019 at $298,430. The median did go up just a bit from $255,000 to $262,500 which is a 2.9% increase year over year.
On to the stars of the show, townhomes and condos. The number of units sold was the largest increase at 26.5% from 34 in May of 2018 to 43 last month. They sold faster also with a 15.7% drop in days on market to 70 days this year from 81 last. Price? The average jumped 7.6% from $189,670 to $204,058 for May of 2019. The median dropped a little which is no biggie, I think the average is more indicative of the market than the median, from $199,750 to $190,000 which is a 5.1% change.
What does this show us? People in the market for single family houses are more focused on the end of the school year and upcoming vacations, while people in the market for townhomes are thinking ahead to fall. This is not an unusual scenario during this time of year and if I remember correctly, I’ve mentioned that attached homes will get more activity late spring and early summer. If you have a town house or condo you’ve been waiting to list, stop that. Now is the prime season to put them on the market for people looking for housing in the fall as well as those who have recently graduated, want to buy but need a good starter property.
If you’re needing to put your single family on the market it’s still a good idea to do so, just don’t go in with the expectations of spring level showings. Personally, I don’t think that’s a negative. I think few showings to serious buyers vs lots of showings to curious lookers is a far better scenario. Similar to winter, people looking now are actively looking and ready to go. That’s a win-win for everyone. Buyers, this is a great market because there’s a good amount of inventory and some of your competition is putting their hunt on the back burner. I’m not saying you can drag your feet, but it’s not quite the feeding frenzy of spring.
That’s it for numbers! Enjoy your week and don’t forget to re-apply your sunscreen every two hours.
Melissa Berube, 2019 MBOR President
