Wasilla Real Estate News, Valley Market Real Estate

First Quarter Stats, 2009…Compared May 6th, 2009

Categories: Market Trends, Wasilla Real Estate News

I thought it would be interesting to compare the first quarter sales numbers to the previous three years. The table is below with 2009 at the bottom.




I would have liked to go back further but beyond 2006 the MLS numbers become somewhat unreliable for Mat-Su statistics because the Anchorage and Valley had separate MLS systems at that time.

I don’t know quite what to make of these numbers…but it is what it is…

Total sales are definitely down, but average prices are up and DOM, (days on market), is shorter. Anyone else care to make sense of these numbers for me?

This representation is based in whole or in part on data supplied by, and to, the subscribers of Alaska Multiple Listing Service, Inc. (AK MLS, Inc.). AK MLS, Inc. does not guarantee nor is it in any way responsible for its accuracy. Data maintained by AK MLS, Inc. is for its own use and may not reflect all real estate activity in the market.

Written by Marty Van Diest Please leave a comment.

Wasilla and Palmer Market Trends For The Year To Date October 30th, 2008

Categories: Market Trends

Yesterday I looked at the market trends for the Knik-Goose Bay Road area.  You can see that here.

Today I have the numbers for Palmer and Wasilla.  The first chart is Wasilla and the second chart is for Palmer. These are based on the specific map areas of Palmer and Wasilla. 

You will notice that the Wasilla area has more sales than Palmer.  The reason becomes obvious when you look at the maps, there just are more developments in the Wasilla map area.  The total sales volume is down about 18% from last year and down about 25% from the high in 2006.   However the median sales price is only down about 2% from the high in 2005.

 The chart below is for Palmer.  Palmer’s sales volume is done about 27% from the high in 2005.  In 2005 and 2006 Hall Quality Homes was building a lot of homes in several developments.  That building is still going on but at a slower pace.

Prices are also hanging in there in Palmer with the median price almost unchanged from the high of 2006.  That is an interesting statistic that will bear watching as we go through this winter.

The study of sales and prices show that the Matanuska Valley is weathering the real estate market quite well.  There is a lower volume of sales but they haven’t died.  The values are certainly holding their own better than the stock market has been doing lately.

Written by Marty Van Diest Please leave a comment.

Market Trends for Fairview and Knik-Goose Bay Areas October 29th, 2008

Categories: Market Trends

With the increase in gas prices this last year I thought I would take a look at the sales numbers for the homes in the Knik-Goose Bay area for the year so far.  This includes the Knik-Goose Bay Road area out to and including Settlers Bay.

For Realtors and others familiar with the Mat-Su Boroughs tax maps, these include OC3, OC4, and HO16.  You can see the borough maps yourself here.

This area was one of the fastest growing in the Matanuska-Susitna Boroughs which is itself the fastest growing area in Alaska.

You can see that the sales volume, (total sales), was amazingly steady from 2004–2007.  It dropped off this year to the same volume as 2003. Prices increased steadily until 2008 with a huge jump from 2005 to 2006.

I don’t think that this years decrease in volume can be necessarily attributed to gas prices alone.  Obviously we have seen a drop in sales volume across the board.  It is also obvious that we are not seeing a real estate crash, the volume is still as good as 2003 which we thought at the time was a very healthy sales climate.

I will take a look at the core area between Wasilla and Palmer for a comparison tomorrow.  For a comparison to the whole borough you can look at the study I did at the end of September.

Written by Marty Van Diest 1 Comment »

Wasilla Real Estate, Price per square foot year over year September 26th, 2008

Categories: Market Trends

Yesterday I took a look at the average and median price for Matanuska-Valley homes over the last few years.  I updated that post so take a look at it again.  These are statistics from Jan1–Sep 26 for the years shown.

It basically showed that while the total volume of homes sold has dropped this year, the average price has not dropped significantly.

I wondered if we were missing some information.  I thought that while the average price of the homes actually sold had remain constant, perhaps people were getting more house for the same amount of money.

So today I took a look at the median price per square foot. I was surprised that it tracks right along with median house prices.  In other words. the median sales price is remaining essentially constant as is the price per square foot over the last three years.

Here it is, the price per square foot is the last column.

You can see the fairly rapid increase in prices from 2004–2006 when appreciation essentially stopped.  If we were to go back further, we would see a steady increase in prices all the way back to 1991.  The increase was generally about 3 percent or so per year, but in the early 2000s appreciation was more rapid. 

Written by Marty Van Diest 1 Comment »

Wasilla Real Estate Statistics Year To Date….How are we doing? September 25th, 2008

Categories: Market Trends

I thought I would take a look at the health of our market so far this year.  We are almost 3/4ths through the year so this should give us some idea of where we are.

Below are the numbers for the year so far from Jan 1–Sep 26.  This is compared with the very same dates for the previous four years.

Note the median price…it has remained essentially the same for the last three years.  If you bought your house in 2006 it should be worth about the same now.  One thing that we should look at is the actual dollar per square foot over the same time period.  I think I’ll save that for tomorrow.

The total sales are down this year by 22% so far.  Last year only had a 9% reduction from the previous year.  If the volume of sales remains low, there will be downward pressure on prices.  But so far…prices are holding up.

Notice Days On Market, (DOM).  It has increase every year but still seems rather low.  The median DOM is for homes that have sold.  That is entirely different than the 94 DOM for 893 houses currently for sale.

While there are 893 homes currently for sale in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, there are only 1,114 in Anchorage, a city with about 5 times our population.  Many people have to settle for one of the 500 or so condos on the Anchorage market.

Written by Marty Van Diest 2 Comments »