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August saw a bit of a jump up in home prices from last August.  I certainly wouldn’t say that home prices are appreciating in Keizer but last year was the end of the tax credit and July and August were dismal months in real estate.  Home prices really couldn’t get worse than after the tax credit ended.  With a current average of $175,297 and a median of $156,000, Keizer is fairly close to Salem median home prices.  

The 90 day absorption rate is 29.67 which means the current inventory of homes in Keizer is 7.3 months.  A bit better than Salem’s 9 months and just like Salem, Keizer is in a bit of a sweet spot for regular sellers as 50% of foreclosures have been pulled off the market temporarily.  In August 16% of homes sold in Keizer were foreclosures or short sales.  17% of active listings are designated as foreclosures or short sales right now.  Home sales were the best in three years in August, just like Salem’s numbers.  It wasn’t hard to beat last year so that doesn’t really count.  Overall good market numbers for Keizer.  If we didn’t have those stopped foreclosures looming ahead of us, I’d say Keizer is looking pretty darn sweet for real estate, but these numbers will probably get uglier in about 6-12 months, assuming the MERS foreclosure issues get resolved.

The average and median home prices have been hovering in the $150,000-$160,000 range for most of this year and August was no exception.   With sales of more expensive homes incredibly lackluster with no change in the foreseeable future, this is going to be where home prices will continue to stay. The nice thing about August 2011 is that it was the best year in three years for home sales beating 08-10, nicely.  With interest rates insanely low and more affordable home prices many buyers decided it was close enough to the bottom to enter into the market.

The 90 absorption rate in Salem is 145.67, which means that we currently have 9.24 months of inventory in Salem.  This steady drop is due to the lack of MERS foreclosures hitting our markets.  21% of MLS listings sold in August were distressed properties, and we’ve had our first decrease in active distressed properties with 18% of active listings being foreclosures or short sales.  We are in a “sweet spot” for sellers right now where the inventory has dropped (still not normal,  mind you) and interest rates are low.  This is a temporary situation that will last maybe 6-12 months until those MERS foreclosures start chugging through the judicial foreclosure process here in Oregon.

If you are thinking of selling your home, this spring may be your best shot for the next few years.  We are in a temporary sweet spot for regular sellers.   If you want help getting your home ready for sale just contact us and we will be happy to help.

Last year, at the end of June 30, the tax credit ended.   July was the first independent month that the real estate world had last year and the statistics were dismal.  It isn’t suprising, then, that we sold more homes this July that last July. It was kind of hard not to.    That said, it still wasn’t a stellar month.  Real estate is still quite slow and will be for a while.

Inventory in Salem Oregon is at 10.35 months currently.  Still a healthy ways away from the coveted 5-6 months of inventory we all desire, but still better than the one year plus inventories present for all of last year.  131 homes sold in July compared to the exceptionally dismal 102 that were sold in July 2010.  It was an ugly summer last year.

Foreclosures and short sales made up 21.3% of sold homes in July and has been inching up slowly over the past year.  I would anticipate that 25% of sales will be distressed properties by the end of the year.

Home prices took a tumble at the start of this year and the median was at $147,000 for July with a median of $152,000 year to date.  It has been hovering around $150,000 for most of this year as that seems to be the number that works for buyers.  Buyers in the starter home price range are finding that the good properties are getting scooped up fairly quickly and what is left isn’t exactly what they want.