Our National Report is out this week. From the press release:
Housing Prices Down by 2.1% in January
Inventory levels
Mountain View, CA February 9 2009. The Altos 10 City Composite Price Index showed a decline in asking prices of 2.1% in January and 2.4% during the most recent three-month period. Prices of properties listed for sale fell in 23 of 26 major markets according to the Real Time Housing Market Report, jointly published by Altos Research, the premier source for real-time real estate data, and market analysis firm Real IQ.
Asking prices fell at the fastest rate in Las Vegas, down 5.4% during January, and 8.8% during the past three months. This marks the tenth consecutive month that Las Vegas has posted the fastest rate of declining prices among major markets. Listing prices rose at the fastest rate in Miami, up 1.5% in January. Price increases in these markets are functions of a shift in the class of properties rather than traditional buyer demand.
"Despite continuing decreases in inventory levels, asking prices remained on a steep downward path in January," said Michael Simonsen, CEO and co-founder of Altos Research. "The trends appear to be continuing. We can find no signs of a turn-around in the data as of the first week of February."
Inventory levels declined in most major markets with the exception of Portland, Seattle, Charlotte and Salt Lake City. Across the 10 City Composite Index markets, inventory declined by 3.3% in January and 9.7% during the most recent three-month period. Inventory fell by more than 5% in Detroit, Boston, Atlanta and Cleveland during January.
"Inventory levels generally increase in January as sellers anticipate the seasonally strong spring selling season," said Stephen Bedikian, partner and research director for Real IQ. "So far we are seeing the opposite as inventory levels are continuing the decline they began in the summer of last year. The big test will come over the next few months as any increase in inventory will exacerbate the already large imbalance of housing supply and demand by adding to the existing overhang of available homes."
The median days-on-market rose in all markets during January staying above 100 or more days-on-market in every major market. By far, the market with the slowest rate of inventory turnover was Miami at a median of 189 days-on-market or more than six months. Miami has experienced the slowest market turnover in every month since September 2007. Salt Lake City enjoyed the fastest rate of turnover with a median days-on-market of 101.
The report is free, register here to download.
