Our friends at First Centennial Title have provided me with July’s Market Condition Report. One of the stats I like to read from this report is the “Percent Selling” number. I see that the number is still holding steady around 50%. What this means is that even after an offer has been accepted by the seller and escrow has been opened with the title company, the property only has about a fifty percent chance of closing. The other half fall out of escrow for whatever reason (financing falls through; buyers get tired of waiting for the bank to approve a short sale offer; etc.) Four years ago this ratio was as high as 86% (see Percent Selling Market Efficiency graph in the report below).
And as I reported with yesterday’s July median numbers, this report shows declining median close prices and increasing units sold for July over June.
click on the chart above to enlarge
I wonder if we are going to have a spike when seller-funded DPA goes away (Oct. 1) and all of the sudden buyer’s pre-approvals don’t mean anything because no way can they put 3.5% down on the purchase.
If I’m reading the charts right, the Percent Selling is about 50% for SFRs, but only about 30% for condos. Less than a third of opened escrows for condos actually closing. Think Fernando Leal is getting a lot of sleep these days?
Guy, any word on the Ticor Charts for July.
It seems our old friend Allen “I don’t need to sell” Murray might just need to sell. After nary a discount, he’s made two recent adjustments to his fantasy price on his McMansion, reducing it by $150k. Of course, at $949k for a giant house on a tiny lot, I think it’s still several hundred thousand too high, even in this bloated price environment. Especially when there are far superior properties on acreage available for the same.
Sully,
I’ve just posted them. Thanks for asking.