Could it be that things are finally making a turn for the best?  Well October numbers are strong and in the black as compared to last year for Incline Village Sales and Escrows.

Active condominiums are up 2% over 2008 for October, current escrows are up 78% and sales for the month as compared to last year are also up 40%.  Active PUDs or Planned Unit Developments are up 7%,  new escrows are up 25% and sales are even with last year.  Single Family Home active properties are down 31% from last year, even with number of escrows for the same time period and up 25% in sales.  Investment properties are up 57% in actives and even with new escrows and sales against October of 2008.

When comparing from just last month, September 2009 condominiums active on the market are down 5%, escrows are down 122% and solds are down 10%.  PUDs are down 7%, escrows down 75% and solds are down 150%.  Single Family Homes are down 6% for active properties on the market, down 189% in new escrows and down 38% in sales.  Investments, well they just aren’t doing a thing this year.  So far, not one Investment Property has sold and been report in the local MLS this year.  These statistics are normal for this time of the year as the ‘HOT’ part of the sales season comes to a screaching slow down.

Comparing units sold for year to date sales 2009 vs. 2008 we are down 6% in condos. down 5% in PUDs and down 3% in single family.  Not too bad considering the economy, but when you take this into consideration with volume dropping as well, it is still not a pretty picture.

Absorption rate which is basically the number of months supply of inventory for a given price band is also an interesting perspective and shows how healthy or unhealthy a market really is.  In order to be considered a ‘Sellers Market’ the months supply of inventory should be less than 6 months.  That has not been the case for years now.  Condominiums average absorption rate is currently 16 months.  That means on average it will take at least 16 months to sell your condo unless you price it accordingly or have some other amazing amenities.  PUDs on average are 20 months as well as Single Family Homes.  That is almost two years folks so be ready for the long haul.  To drill this data down even further, see our Market Data Retrieval which breaks the information down into price bands and the absoprtion rates + numbers of new listings, price reductions, opened escrows and closed sales.

See the pretty stats here…Market Data Retrieval.

See you next month!