“The median price last month for newly built houses and condos and condo conversions locally was $413,500, down 17 percent from a year earlier, with analysts speculating that much of this change was the result of an increase in lower-priced condo conversions.”
This is for new homes only, and condo conversions have got to be a factor.
I’m not going to say that the market is OK right now, (it really sucks), but surprisingly, inventory continues to drop, and resale prices of SFRs and condos have not really dropped much at all yet. Inventory usually does tend to drop at the end of the year, but I think a lot of people are surprised that the # of homes on the market has dropped, especially with the slowdown in sales.
I’m looking for a big increase in the number of bank REOs in the next 1-2 years, which is going to depress prices, but I’m sticking to my prediction from last summer that median home resale prices won’t drop more than 10 to 15%.
