Wasilla Real Estate News, Valley Market Real Estate

Wasilla, Palmer, and Mat-Su Real Estate Market…4/9/2007 April 9th, 2007

Categories: Monday Market Memo

The market is continuing its upward trend in sales and inventory.  This looks like a normal spring trend in sales.  There are more new listings and more pendings than we have seen all spring except for last week.  One week does not make a trend, but two weeks at least starts one.

I notice that the average price for new listings is still lower than the average price of all the houses on the market.  Notice that the average price of houses for sale is almost $100,000 higher than the average price of pending sales. 

Houses priced at or under $200,000 are receiving the bulk of the interest primarily because that is where most buyers qualify.  Even then, houses have to be priced competitively in order to sell.  This past week I showed a buyer 10 houses in Palmer priced between $130,000–$160,000.  It was obvious which ones would sell and which were doomed to sit until the price comes down

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Written by Marty Van Diest Please leave a comment.

Monday Market Memo, 4/2/2007 April 2nd, 2007

Categories: Monday Market Memo

Spring has sprung, at least for Wasilla Real Estate and the whole Mat-Su Valley.  Even though the air was still chilly this morning, the market is heating up.    Just take a look at these two charts below.  The first is for this week and the second is for the previous week.  That’s quite a difference in just one week.   

In addition this chart from Alaska MLS shows a lower inventory, which if it keeps up will mean higher house prices in the coming months. Click on the chart to expand. The thing that could cool things down would be sharply higher interest rates.  But so far, interest are only moving upward slowly. 

So sellers are beginning to put their houses on the market, and they are selling.  They still have to be priced competitively, but when they are, the buyers are waiting.

More reading.

Previous market memos

Ted Jones on Valley real estate

Niel Fried on the valley economy

“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 1 Comment »

Monday Real Estate Stats, 3/26/2007 March 26th, 2007

Categories: Monday Market Memo

These statistics are for real estate in all of the Matanuska Susitna Borough.  This includes Wasilla and Palmer real estate.  The chart below is for the week of March 19–26, 2007.   The indications for this week are pretty healthy for sellers anyway. Compared to lasts weeks memo the numbers indicate more pending sales and closed sales, higher average prices and a lower total inventory. 

If this keeps up, it could turn into a sellers market again.  You buyers might want to step off the sidelines into the fray while interest rates are still attractive. As I said in this post, a 1% hike in interest rates will cost you quite a bit over time. 

I get a weekly mortgage update from Alice Roe of US Bank in Arizona.  You might want to call her to compare loan costs.  Her number is (800) 839–4025 ext 5565.  Tell her Marty sent you.  Her update shows that interest rates rose last week by about 1/8%.  Buyers already in contract may want to discuss with their lenders the option of locking their interest rates.

Notice the Alaska MLS chart to the right, (click to expand).  It shows that the February inventory is a little less than February of last year.  We had a spike last month but it looks like real estate in the Mat-Su remains healthy while much of the rest of the nation is hurting.

Check out some of the past market memos for comparisons.

AlaskaMLS disclaimer…“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, Palmer, Mat-Su Stats for March 12- March19, 2007 March 19th, 2007

Categories: For Buyers, Monday Market Memo

Here are the statistics from the MLS system for this week.  As you can see, things are cooking right along.  There is a slight increase in the amount of pendings and closings.

The one thing to notice this week is that days on the market is going down.  That would indicate a more active market.  It can also be the result of people giving up after trying for many months to sell.

They have either left the market entirely or re-listed their home with someone else.  Hopefully if they re-listed it is for a lower price.  It is mainly the price that sells a home.  You can market and stage your house all you want, but if the price is to high, it won’t sell.

I use both the Anchorage and Valley MLS systems to do this analysis.  I notice quite a disparity among the two.  For example, this week there were 48 new listings in the Valley MLS and only 38 new listings in Anchorage. 

When I compared to determine which listings the Anchorage system was missing I  was startled by the fact that both were quite different.  There were actually 22 listings that were either not in the Anchorage system or the Valley system.   The Valley was missing 6 of Anchorage’s and Anchorage was missing 16 of the Valley’s.

This is caused by two problems

• 1. Many Anchorage members are not members of the valley and vice-versa.  So their listings only appear on their own MLS system.
• 2. Many Realtors are just not keeping up with their listings.  They may have it on one and not the other.

Bottom line: Buyers should use both the Valley MLS system and the Anchorage MLS system to search for homes.  If they don’t, they aren’t getting the whole story.

Any thoughts?  Make a comment.

Written by Marty Van Diest 1 Comment »

Mat-su Real Estate Market Statistics for 3/05/07-3/12/07 March 12th, 2007

Categories: Monday Market Memo

Things are still cooking along at just about a normal pace. There are a few more new listings this week and that is to be expected as we move into the spring market.  I talked about the market with Larry Ficek at RE/MAX last week and he said the next two months will tell the story for the rest of the year…and of course, he is right.  The spring months tell us what our market will be like.

Continuing a trend that has been with us for awhile is the difference between the average sales price of the homes on the market and the homes that are selling. 

Notice that the average price of the pending sales this week is less than $200,000.  This week was influenced by five pendings from one builder with some great prices.  These were mentioned in last weeks deals of the week.   Jay noticed those prices and after checking them out we wrote four offers on them last week.  The houses should be finished in mid-summer.  Give me a call at 907 232–7900 if you would like to find out more about those new construction homes.

If you like hard numbers, here is a good comparison chart of residential property sales comparing this year to last year.

There are some interesting things to look at if you like the numbers.  On is the fact that prices are still going up…and another is the days on the market is growing.  The growing days on the market coupled with the fact that units sold are actually increasing is very interesting.  That shows that the supply is increasing faster than the demand, but that both supply and demand are growing….RIGHT?

Sometimes when I look at numbers for a long time my brain starts to fog up.  Comment below if you read these stats differently than I do.

Written by Marty Van Diest 2 Comments »