Asset Management & Recovery: Good News Buyers - Bad News Sellers

I recevied this email from Business First yesterday.  The last line points out that the stats do not include new builds.  New builds seem to be doing OK, but I am getting more and more calls from builders wanting to talk about auctions.  So far we have only done one and that was in conjunction with the builders lender. 

Central Ohio home sales dip 10% in October

Business First of Columbus - 2:51 PM EST Monday

Central Ohio saw a nearly 10 percent drop in the number of houses sold last month, compared with October 2005.

The Columbus Board of Realtors said Monday that 1,982 residences were sold in the region last month, down from 2,196 sold a year ago.

The average sales price slipped 5.7 percent to $166,266, from $176,236 last year, with houses spending an average of 99 days on the market, compared with 86 days last year.

The number of new listings was down 6.9 percent to 3,844 added last month, from 4,131 a year earlier, while the total number of homes listed for sale was up 14.6 percent to 17,746, from 15,488 a year ago.

"The market is leveling off," Chris Reese, the Realtor group's president, said in a release. "This comes as no surprise as we've had such an active housing market for the last four years. But even with record inventory and a drop in sales, our numbers are still comfortably moderate compared to the fallout we're seeing in other parts of the country."

Year-to-date home sales are off 3.7 percent from 2005.

The Columbus Board of Realtors monitors sales in all of Franklin, Delaware, Fayette, Madison, Morrow and Union counties, and portions of Licking, Pickaway, Fairfield, Champaign, Clark, Knox, Logan and Marion counties. The report does not include sales of new houses by builders.