Neal Fried, an economist with the State of Alaska recently gave a presentation on the Matanuska-Susitna Borough’s economy. All the slides in this post are from Neal. They are all thumbnails, just click to expand. As the chart to the left shows, the economy in the Mat-Su has enjoyed more than a decade of uninterrupted growth. The valley’s population grew at a much faster rate than any other part of… read more →
This beautiful sunrise photo was taken just outside the RE/MAX of Wasilla office about a month ago. I’m not sure if the real estate sun is rising as well, but Countrywide Home Mortgage apparently feels that Alaska real estate is among the lowest risks in the country. Countrywide recently published a list of soft markets across the country. Over 1,000 counties were rated high risk, (a 5), down to the lowest risk,… read more →
We have seen quite an increase in prices over the last seven years. Below, are the figures from the MLS system that show many more homes sold this year compared to 2000 and at a much higher price. Notice that the average days on the market for sales in 2000 was 140 days. This year so far it has been only 77 days. Of course the average days on the… read more →
Wasilla Real EstateNews Statistics for 10/8–10/15/07 For the second week in a row the pending sales price has averaged less than $200,000. This is where the most market activity is taking place. Average Price DOM New 45 $228,316 Total Active 933 Pending 22 $190,809 130 Closed 29 $229,403 66 There are quite a few builders targeting the below $200,000 market so a good amount of the pending sales are new construction. … read more →
An important guage of housing prices in any area is a comparison of the average sales price to the average income in the area. The closest figure I could find was $56,084 as a median income for the Matanuska-Susitna Borough as a whole in 2004. So I am making a couple of assumptions to come up with a working figure. First, I assume that the household income is higher now than in… read more →
Or dollars as the case may be. First I should tell you that most of the 31 duplexes currently on the Wasilla real estate market do not cash flow. Cash flow means that after you collect your monthly rent and pay your monthly expenses, you still have at least a dollar in your pocket. Hopefully you have a few hundred dollars. Most of the duplexes on the market today will cost… read more →