Some experts thought we might see a drop in activity as the tax credit(s) ran out at the end of last month, but that doesn’t appear to have happened in Central Vermont.  Here are the numbers for May.

 

 

Active

New to the Market in May

# Sold

# Contingent

# That Changed Price

# Sold in Last 12 Months

Active/Sold Ratio

Montpelier

57

7

5

2

7

89

.64

Barre City

70

15

5

1

10

77

.91

Barre Town

65

8

1

1

9

69

.94

U-32

82

12

2

2

13

62

1.32

Northfield/Roxbury

36

3

3

1

4

36

1.00

Plainfield/Marshfield

14

1

0

2

0

10

1.40

Williamstown

22

2

0

1

4

20

1.10

 

You can see that for the Montpelier real estate market, the Active/Sold Ratio is creeping downward.  For May, there was roughly a 7.5 month supply of homes on the market. I’ve heard a rule of thumb that suggests an inventory of 5-7 months indicates a market in transition.  7-12 months’ supply is a buyers’ market—so the transition we may be seeing is one that starts to favor sellers slightly. 

It wouldn’t be too surprising to see the numbers for the Montpelier real estate market and other area towns be a little different, but there’s a pretty wide spread here for the Active/Sold Ratio.  Too wide to make any conclusions.  On the whole, sellers can still reasonably expect houses to be on the market for 6-9 months, perhaps a year (I know…ouch!).  The best ways to shorten that timeframe are to make sure homes are priced right, and to make sure that they look fantastic when they’re shown. 

Barre City and U-32 added some significant inventory in May.  Incidentally, you see those two sales in U-32?  Those were both mine, thank you very much.  One was a fixer upper on 2 acres in Calais, and the other was a well-maintained 3 bedroom, 2 bath ranch in Berlin.

If there are other numbers you’d like to see, feel free to make some suggestions.  Anticipating that:  I was going to put “Days on Market” for properties that closed, but there weren’t enough sales in some of the towns to make that really meaningful.  For example, the sales in U-32 were for $100,000 and $205,000.  An average wouldn’t tell a whole lot.  Hmmm…maybe next month I’ll do a 2 or 3 month running average Days on Market. 

My hope is that you find these updates useful and (if you’re a real estate junkie), even a little entertaining.  If you know anyone else who might like to get an email or a hardcopy of these updates, just let me know.

If you or someone you know is thinking of buying or selling, keep me in mind.  I am always thankful for recommendations.

Be Smart.  Remember Ray.