Housing Sales Up and Prices Flat

On Tuesday the front page of the Reno Gazette-Journal had the headline "Housing Sales Up as Prices Stay Flat," while the Wall Street Journal and other sources say sales are down in June. So who do you believe?

As the author of this blog entry, my issue is with how information is given to you, the consumer. What is right, what is wrong and what to believe.

Heck, I'm all for good news but let's make it real. The Wall Street Journal is in fact correct, sales are down in June and probably in July as well.

My numbers only reflect the resale market and new home sales that are included in the MLS system. I do this because I feel that it is in fact the resale market that is our reality check on what is going on in the real estate market. Selling new homes is great for developers but as a home owner the question is, can you sell your home and for how much in what given period of time? All new homes sales quickly become possible sellers in the resale market over time, so what happens in the resale market is critical to the health of our business.

In the first quarter of 2007 838 homes sold and in the second quarter 1,013 homes sold for an increase in activity of 18%.

In the first quarter of 2008 597 homes sold and in the second quarter 991 homes sold for a increase in activity of 40%.

I realize that I am drawing from one set of numbers but from what I see, we have positive growth and that needs to be publicized, this is GREAT news!

Unfortunately, the press seems to want to make extremes out of news, either stating things worse than they are or better than they are. My issue is that when one pumps up the good news it opens the door to the next reporter to make the negative news look worse than it is.

The fact is that as of today, July of 2008 is running 30% behind July of 2007. So does that mean that we have fallen down?

The fact is that our market did well in the first six months of this year despite all that we are dealing with and we ARE working out our issues slowly but surely. The REO/short sale market is not unlimited and unless, as a buyer, you only want to buy within a fairly restricted area of the market, the depressed prices elsewhere will stabilize sooner than you realize. No, I did not say prices are going to rise but prices are going to stabilize sooner than you think. For sellers, all this means is that to sell you need to price to the real numbers that are being reported and to wait out this market, and get substantial returns for waiting, is going to be a very, very long wait.

Let's focus on the good news that we're seeing positive growth in the market and keep working in the right direction. The combined efforts of agents, buyers and sellers will help make this "adjustment" a thing of the past.