April has been a BUSY month! Personally, my family had 3 trips to the emergency room - whew! That was 3 too many. Professionally, The Wells Team (Kim and I) have been busy helping lots of families buy and sell homes. I say that not to brag, but more as an indicator of how the market is doing here in Augusta.
Absorption Rates are on the way back down. Typically 6 months' worth of inventory is a balanced market, greater than 6 is a buyer's market, and less than 6 is a seller's market.
The numbers are looking better, although there are still MANY more homes on the market than are being purchased. Let's take a look at Columbia County residential properties. According to data obtained from the Greater Augusta Association of Realtors MLS, if we compare 4th Qtr '07 to 1st Qtr '08, we find a 45% increase in new listings, a 5% decrease in sold listings, a 14% decrease in $ volume of sold listings, a 9% decrease in average sale price, and a 16% increase in average days on market.
Looking at those same numbers in Richmond County shows a 30% increase in new residential listings, a 16% decrease in sold listings, a 23% decrease in $ volume of sold listings, a 9% decrease in average sale price, and an 8% increase in average days on market.
I've spoken to several people, Realtors included, who are worried about the falling sales prices and what it means for our market. The slight decrease in sales price is really just a market correction due to the inflated sales prices over the last few years. We had arrived at the point where home price inflation crossed paths with the affordability index, and the affordability index won.
