Buyer Activity:  It appears agents are pretty much finished with changing out lockboxes so we can return to using this data. Lockboxes in December were opened at about the same pace as this time last year. This suggests that buyer activity is remaining steady as compared to last year.

Price Reductions:  We have experienced price reductions on listings steadily since last March. The October reporting was the first time since March we have seen a reduction in price reductions. I am happy to say the frequency of price reductions dropped significantly in November to 640, nearly half of the rate reported in October.

The Average Price:  In November we saw the average price of a home drop 2.9%, about $10,000. While this at first seems worrisome, this indicator is on average remaining fairly steady, jumping up and then down. The net effect is little change here in the long run so far.

Marketing Time: The average market time from October to November went unchanged, holding right at 52 days.

 Inventory Levels: The inventory levels inched upward from 2.7 to 2.9 months for the general market. A breakdown for price ranges is below.

 Pending Sales:  Pending sales in November fell 18% as compared to October. Being the holidays this is not surprising. Pending sales also fell 14% when comparing current  pending sales to the same period last year.

What price ranges are most affected by the market changes?

 (Inventory=months needed to sell all existing homes at the current rate of sales.)
Price                August             September      October       November           December
2-300,000        1.1                      1.3                   1.5                1.6                   1.3
3-500,000        2.1                      2.3                   2.6                2.6                   2.7
5-700,000        4                         3.2                   5.2                4.8                   5.2
7-1,000,000     5.7                     7.7                    7                   8.6                   9.4

Conclusion:   Homes priced below $500,000 clearly remain very stable and are enjoying a seller’s market. Homes priced between $500-$700,000 got a bit tougher again to find a buyer and homes priced between $700-$1 million got even tougher to find a buyer.

The situation with homes over $500,000 seems driven more by the fact that fewer homes came off the market this holiday season than last year at this time. The market does not seem driven by a reduction in buyer activity. That is a good thing. We will know much more about what to expect in buyer activity in the next few months by what happens the first few weeks in January. If buyer activity spikes upward then typically the first half of the year should be improve for these higher price ranges. If not then this typically suggests the market will weaken further for the next several months or longer.

The overall market is seeing mixed indicators:

Buyer activity levels and marketing time suggest stable conditions while price reductions, inventory levels, pending sales and the further erosion of inventory levels for homes priced above $500,000 all suggest further weakening.

As mentioned above, we will know the direction of the market for the next several months and longer just in the first few weeks of January. Typically, if buyer activity starts the year out strong then the strong market will last for at least the first half of the year or longer.

Consider this Solution for World Food Shortages?

As concerns over world food shortages grow according to NATO and the UN,(click on the hyperlink for details), some unusual solutions are being discussed.
Cattle are the main source of protein for developing nations yet are the most inefficient and costly sources of protein. Consider that it takes 8 times the amount of feed to produce the same amount of protein from cattle vs bugs (this is not a typo) according to an article in DNEWS.
Studies on the nutritional differences between bugs and meat suggest that bugs provide about the same or greater nutrients ( calcium, iron, copper, manganese, magnesium, and zinc) as meat. Check out the DNEWS link for some interesting perspectives.

Cheaper and more nutritious…… I must admit, I am tempted to give them a try.

How does the idea of bugs strike you?
If the world were in a pinch for protein, could you make the switch?