Hangover? What hangover?
Many “people in the know” predicted that the end of the tax credit extension would result in a massive meltdown of home sales and would further cripple the real estate industry. They called it a hangover. I’ve had hangovers before (sorry, Mom) and this isn’t one of them.
At least not as far as the Chanhassen real estate market is concerned. Yes, there was a negative effect, but not as bad as some other parts of the metro which experienced a 45% drop in pending sales after April 30th. Much of this is due to Chanhassen not being a first time home buyer market. The average sale price of a single family home is still over $350,000, considerably more than the first time home buyer generally spends.
I expected to see town home sales drop, especially in the lower end, and they did. This is not good news for sellers, but is great for buyers. Inventory continues to climb, pending sales are down and sellers are accepting lower offers. I expect this trend to continue through fall and winter ( yes, I used the “W” word) so the market will continue to be a buyer’s market for town homes.
But single family homes weathered the party pretty well. The average sale price in the past month was 12% over the same time period in 2009, up to $365,000 from $325,000. The number of sales leaped 18% from 25 to 32 but the total for the year was down nearly 9%. This overall decline clearly indicates we are far from being out of the woods yet, but that Chanhassen home values continue to hold their own.
Another indicator that puts a smile on this Realtor’s face is the amount of time it takes to sell a home in Chanhassen. Granted, if your home is currently listed, the 131 days before a sale happens is an eternity, but that number is nearly 9% better than it was last year at this time.
The downside, though, is that while new listings are down by 17%, the overall inventory of single family homes is up 6.5% from a year ago. This may be the most important statistic of all. It tells me that sellers may want to not try to sell their Chanhassen home unless it can be priced competitively and marketed aggressively (that’s where we come in). This is still a tough market and only a few homes a month will sell.
The bottom line is while this is not a full blown hangover, it may still require a couple of aspirin. (Grin)
Read more on Chanhassen real estate and neighborhood reviews at www.ChanhassenRealEstateBlog.com.
Possibly related:
