Is it time to celebrate?

So tell me why we don’t hear that the local real estate market is improving? Why, because doom and gloom sell. Buyers and Sellers take heed.

In August 2011 the number of residential listings for sale went down 15% when compared to August 2010, the largest decline since May 2004. Of the seven local cities, six of those had declines greater than 10%. In the past year we’ve seen the inventory has fluctuated, but not at this magnitude. This is good news when looking to a more stable market, especially for sellers.

The number of under contract sales grew by 23.4% in August 2011 when compared to August of 2010.  Seven of the major cities (locally) saw year-over-year gains.

More positive news is the number of settled sales increased in August 2011 when compared to August 2010. A 15.8% year-over-year rise in settled residential sales was reported by REIN.

Actively listed distressed homes (bank owned or short sales) grew slightly to 22.6%, the highest percentage since February 2011. However, the percentage of distressed sales fell to 29.3% which is the lowest percentage since September 2010. The number of distressed homes in the Hampton Roads declined, down to 12.8% since the beginning of this 2011. Should we continue along these lines, the distressed homes market locally may stabilize and lessen its impact on our local housing market, as it applies to housing prices.

**NOTE: All statistics provided herein were provided by Real Estate Information Network (REIN)