Association Of Realtors

http://www.denhamspringsappraisers.com/ - Western Livingston Parish Home Appraisers: August 2010 Market Data

The August 2010 housing numbers are in from the Greater Baton Rouge Association of Realtors from 8/1/2010 to 8/31/2010 and from 8/1/2009 to 8/31/2010, extracted on 9/16/2010.

Livingston Parish August 2010 Market Data
(For MLS Areas 80, 81, 82 & 83)

Total Monthly Sales: 56 (Lowest Number Of Sales In Period)

Average Listing Price: $164,295 ($162,914 in 8/2009)
Average Sold Price: $161,018 ($160,232 in 8/2009)
Median Sold Price: $140,900 ($152,500 in 8/2009)
Average Days On The Market: 92 (85 in 8/2009)
Listing To Sales Price Ratio: 98% (98.3% in 8/2009)
Current Inventory: 811 (703 in 8/2009)
Months of Inventory: 14.5 (Longest In Period, 5.9 in 8/2009)

Annual View From 8/2009 to 8/2010:

Total Monthly Sales: 1210

Average Listing Price: $167,849
Average Sold Price: $164,948
Median Sold Price: $152,147
Average Days On The Market: 90
Listing To Sales Price Ratio: 98.3%
Average Current Inventory: 719
Average Months of Inventory: 7.1

Accurate Valuations Group’s “MARKET WRAP”:

NUMBER OF HOME SALES DECLINES. Based on these numbers, home sales are slowing considerably from 120 in August 2009, 109 in June 2010, 83 in July 2010 to just 56 in August 2010, a decline of -53% since August 2009.

LOCAL HOUSING INVENTORY SWELLS. With the number of home sales declining, this resulted in an increase to over 14 months of inventory. The good news is that in August, it still took an average days on the market of 92 days to sell a home.

MEDIAN SALES PRICE DECLINE. The median sales price declined sharply from $152,500 in August 2009, $149,000 in June 2010, $155,000 in July 2010 to just $140,900 in August 2010, a decline of -7.6% since August 2009. This shows that this market continues to favor the more affordable housing options over that of the higher end homes market. Area home builders have reacted and are building smaller homes to accomodate this market demand.

WHY WE USE MEDIAN SALES PRICE OVER AVERAGE SALES PRICE? NOTE: Why Median Sales Price is a better indicator than Average Sales Price! Median Sales Price is the barometer by which the National Association of Realtors uses to report on national housing markets. Average Sales Price tends to take all of the home sales prices from the lowest, say $50,000, to the highest, say $1,000,000, and state the average of them all, sometimes skewing the numbers because of the extreme highs and lows. Median Sales Price tends to focus more on the middle of where the bulk of home sales prices are taking place. Generally, the Average Sales Price is going to be higher because it includes the extreme high sales prices in a given market.