Greetings! Real estate activity nationwide and in Douglas County continues to show signs of improvement. The Pending Homes Sales Index rose for the 4th straight month which is good news because pending sales lead to closed sales. Favorable housing affordability and the first time buyer tax credit is boosting activity according to the National Association of Realtors.  The National Home Builders Association reports that builders’ confidence continues to grow and they feel that it will continue through at least the summer months. To date they reported that only about $90 billion of the $789 billion stimulus package or 11% has went into the economy and by the end of the year some $250 billion should be injected to help further stimulate the economy.

In Douglas County our residential market continues to improve. When you compare June 2009 with May 2009, closed sales increased 11%, pending sales rose by 1.1% with new listings growing by 5.8%. That means that some of the pending inventory is starting to sell in fact we have 15.4 months of inventory remaining on the market which is down from over 30 months in January. The average sales price is down for June 2009 compared to June 2008 by some 19.8%. Since the first of the year the average sales price has dropped by 20.2% to $152,400 vs. $190,900 in 2008.

Our local economy continues to suffer because of the many families that are out of work. Our unemployment rate continues to hover around the 18% level even with the seasonal adjustable rate which normally brings the rate down. Most of our local retailers are suffering with sales of goods down significantly compared  to last year. This past legislative session was a big disappointment for us all with very little accomplished. I talked with one of our State Representatives and all he could say to me, “this was a most interesting experience.” Not much substantive out of our leaders in Salem. Sad, so sad! Keep a strong upper lip and keep working and encourage employers to hire so our economy improves!

Regards,

Neil

admin Market News