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October 08, 2008

Homes are still selling...

According to the folks at Altos, the makers of the latest Johnny-come-lately housing index, the San Francisco market is doing okay comparably. While the national average for days on the market is 100 or more, San Francisco comes in at 83... Always looking for the silver lining... Here’s what PR people at Altos has to say about it...

The Altos 10-City Composite Price Index showed a decline in asking prices of 1.4% in September and 2.9% for the past three months. Prices of properties listed for-sale fell in 21 of 26 major markets according to the Real-Time Housing Market Report, published by Altos Research, the premier source for real-time real estate research, and market analysis consultancy Real IQ.

Asking prices fell at the fastest rate in Las Vegas - down 3.5% during September - and 8.1% over the most recent three-month period. This marks the sixth consecutive month that Las Vegas has posted the fastest rate of declining prices among major markets. Listing prices rose at the fastest rate in Denver - up 0.9% in September - followed by San Diego where prices were up 0.8%. Denver, San Diego and Houston are the only markets showing three months of sequential price increases.

"The fleeting signs of stability we saw during the Summer have largely vanished," said Michael Simonsen, CEO and co-founder of Altos Research. "Job losses and the credit crunch will aggravate typical seasonal weakness during the coming Fall and Winter months."

Inventory levels declined in 21 of 26 markets. Inventory fell by the largest amounts in Austin and Detroit with inventory contracting 6.3% and 6.2% respectively. Several other markets showed inventory declines of more than four percent including: Los Angeles, San Diego, Atlanta and Houston.

"While inventories have continued to slowly decline, they remain at historically high levels," said Stephen Bedikian, partner and research director for Real IQ. "The result is that prices remain under pressure in most markets. Until we see large and sustained declines in inventory, we're not going to see a market bottom."

Nineteen of 26 markets had an average days-on-market of 100 or more. Days-on-market declined in just three of 26 markets. By far, the market with the slowest rate of inventory turnover was Miami at an average of 167 days-on-market. Miami has experienced the slowest market turnover in every month since September 2007. San Diego had the fastest rate of inventory turnover at an average of 76 days-on-market, followed by San Francisco at 83 days.

Posted by Jeff Brooks on October 8, 2008 02:48 PM | Permalink

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