Southern Utah Real Estate Market, What happenend in April

A few of my Humpty Dumpty friends jumped off the wall. April was a good month for people who finally decided that the market is what it is and decided the time was right. Maybe everyone has settled down and decided that it is not about stimulus packages and big brother stepping in to make things all better, but we as the American people are actually going to have to get up and go to work! I can honestly say I think we have found the bottom. We may bump a long it for the next several months, but with the amount of activity out there right now, I cannot see our market dropping much more. In fact, well priced foreclosures are getting multiple offers. I want to thank those that made April a great month for us.

Mike Betts/DB Inc. (Purchase)
Ellis and Nina Rogers (Purchase)
Darryl and Joanne Layne (Sold Listing)
Brian Lowe and Ceciley Bachnik (Purchase)

Mike and I have been emailing each other back and forth for over a year and finally we found one that made sense for him. Ellis and Nina, this one is number two in as many months. Thanks! Darryl and Joanne Layne are friends I met a couple of years ago when they were driving around, and finally decided to sale their house. They should be here again next month when we close escrow on their new home about two blocks away from their last one. This is the only time I have ever put someone else’s client on the board. Brian and Ceciley are actually Netta’s clients, but I like to think I helped them close the deal. I want to thank them for being our highest dollar volume purchaser of my career!

The market is looking so much better and there is a lot of activity going on right now. We are starting to see a lot more FHA loans and the government is actually being pretty liberal with some of the grants available for first time home buyers and first time home buyers of new construction. In fact there is a “Home Run Grant” that would enable a first time home buyer to receive about $12,000 in tax credit combined with other incentives for buying a new construction home right now. There are also great tax incentives for purchasing homes that have already been lived in too. I am not going to suggest I know all of the details, but if you have questions, email me and I will get you to the right people.

All that being said, this is what happened over the past month.

Total Market Activity on Homes in April
Active Listings: 1,692 (Mar 1,517)
New Listings: 348 (Mar 326)
Sold Listings: 207 (Mar 164)
Months of Inventory: 8.17 (Mar 9.25)

Homes priced up to $150,000
Active Listings: 244 (Mar 213)
New Listings: 58 (Mar 69)
Sold Listings: 44 (Mar 35)
Months of Inventory: 5.50 (Mar 6.09)

Homes priced from $150,001 to $200,000
Active Listings: 311 (Mar 273)
New Listings: 77 (Mar 72)
Sold Listings: 48 (Mar 43)
Months of Inventory: 6.48 (Mar 6.35)

Homes priced from $200,001 to $250,000
Active Listings: 266 (Mar 241)
New Listings: 56 (Mar 40)
Sold Listings: 38 (Mar 23)
Months of Inventory: 7.00 (Mar 10.48)

Homes priced from $250,001 to $300,000
Active Listings: 220 (Mar 206)
New Listings: 47 (Mar 36)
Sold Listings: 27 (Mar 14)
Months of Inventory: 11.58 (Mar 9.81)

Homes priced from $300,001 to $350,000
Active Listings: 135 (Mae 136)
New Listings: 22 (Mar 18)
Sold Listings: 27 (Mar 14)
Months of Inventory: 5.00 (Mar 9.71)

Homes priced from $350,001 to $400,000
Active Listings: 105 (Mar 90)
New Listings: 27 (Mar 24)
Sold Listings: 11 (Mar 9)
Months of Inventory: 9.55 (Mar 10.00)

Homes priced from $400,001 to $450,000
Active Listings: 58 (Mar 49 )
New Listings: 10 (Mar 9)
Sold Listings: 2 (Mar 2)
Months of Inventory: 29.00 (Mar 24.00)

Homes priced from $450,001 to $500,000
Active Listings: 70 (Mar 54)
New Listings: 8 (Mar 17)
Sold Listings: 3 (Mar 5)
Months of Inventory: 23.33 (Mar 10.80)

Homes priced from $500,001 to $550,000
Active Listings: 33 (Mar 31)
New Listings: 4 (Mar 6)
Sold Listings: 2 (mar 2)
Months of Inventory: 16.50 (Mar 15.50)

Homes priced from $550,001 to $600,000
Active Listings: 55 (Mar 52)
New Listings: 8 (Mar 12)
Sold Listings: 6 (Mar 3)
Months of Inventory: 9.17 (Mar 16.67)

Homes priced from $600,001 to $650,000
Active Listings: 21 (Mar 19)
New Listings: 6 (Mar 2)
Sold Listings: 3 (Mar 2)
Months of Inventory: 7.00 (Mar 9.50)

Homes priced from $650,001 to $700,000
Active Listings: 30 (Mar 23)
New Listings: 7 (Mar 3)
Sold Listings: 0 (Mar 0)
Months of Inventory: No Sales in April No Sales in Mar

Homes priced from $700,001 to $750,000
Active Listings: 16 (Mar 14)
New Listings: 1 (Mar 2)
Sold Listings: 1 (Mar 0)
Months of Inventory: 16.00 (No Sales in March)

Homes priced from $750,001 to $1,000,000
Active Listings: 52 (Mar 47)
New Listings: 4 (Mar 10)
Sold Listings: 3 (Mar 1)
Months of Inventory: 17.33 (Mar 47.00)

Homes priced from $1,000,001 and Up
Active Listings: 76 (Mar 71)
New Listings: 10 (Mar 6)
Sold Listings: 0 (Mar 4)
Months of Inventory: No Sales in April (March 17.75)

The following information is for building lots in the same general area as the housing data listed above.

All Building Lots in the Greater St. George and Hurricane Valley
Active Listings: 1,230 (Mar 1,181)
New Listings: 82 (Mar 110)
Sold Listings: 21 (Mar 9)
Months of Inventory: 58.57 (Mar 131.22)

Here are the data ranges:

Building lots up to $100,000
Active Listings: 545 (Mar 516)
New Listings: 39 (Mar 57)
Sold Listings: 14 (Mar 7)
Months of Inventory: 38.93 (Mar 73.71)

Building lots from $100,001 to $150,000
Active Listings: 316 (Mar 308)
New Listings: 28 (Mar 28)
Sold Listings: 3 (Mar 0)
Months of Inventory: 105.33 (No Sales in Mar)

Building lots from $150,001 to $200,000
Active Listings: 136 (Mar 134)
New Listings: 5 (Mar 12)
Sold Listings: 2 (Mar 0)
Months of Inventory: 68.00 (No Sales in Mar)

Building lots from $200,001 and up
Active Listings: 136 (Mar 163)
New Listings: 8 (Mar 8)
Sold Listings: 2 (Mar 2)
Months of Inventory: 84.50 (Mar 81.50)

Short Sales:
They probably are the best deals on the market if you get the right one, are willing to wait an excruciating amount of time, and all the stars line up. We have closed a couple of them this last month, and I think they worked out well for the very most part. Look for one that is already price approved, it makes life a lot easier.

Foreclosures:
As always, 10% of them are excellent deals, 70% are pretty good, meaning you are going to be in a bit of an equity position once you put in the elbow grease, and get the landscaping back together, and 20% of them just don't make any sense at all. Just because it says bank owned, does not mean it is a deal. They have appraisers and they use them.

If you would like for me to send you listings of homes that are available in our area, just send me an email with your criteria.

If you want to be sent bank foreclosures that are ready to buy right now, go to www.southernutahforeclosure.com and register.

If you have any questions, or need to speak to me, send me an email, and I promise to get back to you.