Well this is my first post. My plan is to make it a good one. Here we are and it’s November already. How did that happen? Are we really starting winter again? I was watching the news this morning and I had the pleasure of listening about how horrible the real estate market is. Really?! We are still on this topic! I was hoping that the economists would start showing some optimism by now. Well I guess you can’t believe everything you read and hear so if you live in the Duluth/Superior area and you have any interest in housing statistics. Specifically sales statistics I’m your man. I’m a real estate agent and I love to here percentage of, increase of, decrease of, etc, etc, etc. It drives my focus. I keep track of my numbers and the current market numbers but I usually don’t compare one year to another specifically until the end of the year. Well I think we are close enough so this morning I ran some numbers out of the MLS. Not the MLS that the millions of buyers use online but the actual pay the monthly dues MLS. So here are some interesting number that I found from Jan 1 to Nov 1 for each of the last 5 years, specifically for Single Family homes in Duluth, MN. Single family home sales from 2002-2007, using Jan 1 – Nov 1 for 2007 statistics.
2007 Duluth Single Family Sales
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HIGH | LOW | AVERAGE | MEDIAN | TOTAL | LISTING |
| PRICE | COUNT | |||||
| LIST PRICE: | $1,494,876 | $29,900 | $170,616 | $149,900 | $148,607,104 | 871 |
| SOLD PRICE: | $1,250,000 | $25,000 | $165,301 | $145,000 | $143,977,383 | |
| DOM: | 601 | 0 | 55 | 32 |
2006 Duluth Single Family Sales
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|
HIGH | LOW | AVERAGE | MEDIAN | TOTAL | LISTING |
| PRICE | COUNT | |||||
| LIST PRICE: | $1,350,000 | $24,750 | $166,357 | $144,900 | $166,524,246 | 1001 |
| SOLD PRICE: | $1,200,000 | $15,000 | $161,419 | $142,000 | $161,580,894 | |
| DOM: | 493 | 0 | 52 | 35 |
2005 Duluth Single Family Sales
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|
HIGH | LOW | AVERAGE | MEDIAN | TOTAL | LISTING |
| PRICE | COUNT | |||||
| LIST PRICE: | $2,000,000 | $19,900 | $163,341 | $143,700 | $180,655,730 | 1106 |
| SOLD PRICE: | $2,000,000 | $16,000 | $159,747 | $140,000 | $176,681,133 | |
| DOM: | 871 | 0 | 45 | 28 |
2004 Duluth Single Family Sales
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HIGH | LOW | AVERAGE | MEDIAN | TOTAL | LISTING |
| PRICE | COUNT | |||||
| LIST PRICE: | $899,000 | $34,900 | $158,478 | $135,000 | $172,583,120 | 1089 |
| SOLD PRICE: | $899,000 | $33,000 | $155,031 | $134,000 | $168,829,769 | |
| DOM: | 516 | 0 | 41 | 23 |
2003 Duluth Single Family Sales
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HIGH | LOW | AVERAGE | MEDIAN | TOTAL | LISTING |
| PRICE | COUNT | |||||
| LIST PRICE: | $725,000 | $24,900 | $148,538 | $129,000 | $147,349,949 | 992 |
| SOLD PRICE: | $725,000 | $15,000 | $145,539 | $126,500 | $144,375,620 | |
| DOM: | 390 | 0 | 31 | 14 |
2002 Duluth Single Family Sales
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|
HIGH | LOW | AVERAGE | MEDIAN | TOTAL | LISTING |
| PRICE | COUNT | |||||
| LIST PRICE: | $749,900 | $15,000 | $132,419 | $112,500 | $137,053,746 | 1035 |
| SOLD PRICE: | $738,500 | $18,000 | $130,012 | $111,000 | $134,563,377 | |
| DOM: | 466 | 0 | 34 | 17 |
Now, I can’t just put these stats out there and expect you to read them correctly so here is in Kindergartner terms how this should be looked at by Joe buyer/seller.
- Always go by median price. This takes away the really high and the really low and gives you a more accurate picture of the numbers.
- Pay attention to days on market. This matters because the more days on market, the more you pay in holding costs. (mortgage payments, utilities, etc.)
- Do not pay any attention to how many total listing sold. Whether there was 10 or 200 as long as your median home price is going up and it is selling in a reasonable amount of time then your doing fine.
Do these numbers surprise you? If they don’t you better look again. Hell, they surprise me! Key points you should realize from these numbers:
- The median home price has gone up every year for the last 5 years.
- The median home days on market has actually gone down since last year and is only 18 days longer than the best year ever which was a median days on market of 14 (which is a crazy number!).
- There has been appreciation every year from 2002 through 2007. From a high of 13.5 to a low of 1.4 which was between 2005-06. That means your house never lost value, it just didn’t gain as much! In fact 2006/2007 has beat 2005/2006 by almost 1% in appreciation!
So why does this data not jive with what the news is reporting? Answer: There has been a decrease in homes sold and a decrease in appreciation. Let clarify these two items. A. A typical seller or buyer should be concerned with the appreciation of their property not how many homes have sold. B. Just because there was a decrease in appreciation doesn’t mean that you have depreciation. Combine that with minor improvements, cleaning, and staging and you will not only hit that median home average but you’ll beat it! Good luck out there buyers and sellers. The prices are good, the interest rates are good, and the selection is great. That’s all for now. -A
