Cache County Home Sales Up, Condo Sales Way up for First Half of 2010

It's hard to believe, but 2010 is nearly half way over. Real Estate sales in Cache County are up for the first half of the year compared with the first half of last year, and Cache Valley Condo sales are more than double what they were last year.

For single family houses in Cache County Utah, sales were up 8.76% from a year ago. There wasn't really a price disparity between the percentage change of more expensive homes and less expensive homes. Cache Valley homes priced below $200,000 saw a sales increase of 8.76%, and Home's priced above $200,000 saw an increase by 8.77%. Last year, homes priced above $200,000 saw a 41% decline compared with the first half of 2008.

Sales of Condos in Logan Utah were more than double last years numbers. 92 Condos and Townhouses sold this year compared with just 43 at this time last year. The average price of condos also declined, the average sold price this year of $124,100 is 10.66% less than last year. The median sales price of condos was just down by 5.14%.

While the quantity of homes that sold was up, prices were way down. The median price of homes sold in Cache County through the first half of the year was $156,000, down 8.18% compared with last years median price of $169,900. The average sold price was down slightly more at 8.54%.

Most of the individual cities in Cache County saw improvements in home sales, with the exception of Providence, and Hyde Park Real Estate. Logan Real Estate sales were up 18.14%, Smithfield Real Estate Sales Rose 26.79%, Hyrum Real Estate Sales increased 24.5%, Nibley Real Estate sales improved 20.6%, Wellsville Real Estate saw 5 more home sales, North Logan Real Estate sales increased 26.7%, and the rural Cache County communities saw home sales improvements of 16.33%.

Short Sale Numbers Slightly Up in Logan

While Total Real Estate inventory in Cache County is up, the number of short sales is also up, but still significantly less than a couple months ago. The number of Cache County Short Sale listings rose from 29 to 33, an increase of less than half a percent.

Record HIGH number of Home Listings in Cache County

Right now there are 854 residential homes for sale in Cache County Utah. By my records, this is the highest amount of Real Estate Inventory Cache County has ever had. The previous high I ever noted was 850 in July of last year.

So what does this mean?

In basic economics, it simply means that there is more supply than demand. When this happens, prices will drop. What it means overall is that it is not a good time to try and sell Logan Utah Real Estate. There will still be hundreds of Cache County homes that can and will sell, but the homes that do sell will be those that offer the best value. If you NEED to sell your home you want to make sure you have it priced low, and have it clean and presentable. Showings will be down, so those showings you get, you need to make count. If you don't NEED to sell, you might be better off by just taking your home off the market and learn to enjoy where you now live.

If you need to relocate, it's better to drastically drop the price on your house now rather than to leave it vacant for months or years. Doing so will reduce the overall loss. The high inventory, especially among the high end homes also means that many sellers may want to consider lease options or renting their homes out if the losses that need to be taken will be too much.

There are other variables, other factors of course, and with real estate what really matters is the amount of competition in a particular price range or area. Next month I plan to do my break down by price ranges, and by home sizes for the amount of real estate inventory. That will give us a better idea of which type of Cache Valley homes for sale have most saturated the market.

Cache County Home Sales Up 36%, Inventory Also Way Up

Home sales in Cache County during May were way up. The 114 Cache County homes reported sold on the WFRMLS mark the highest single month of home sales in Cache County in nearly 22 months, with the exception of July of last year when 117 residential homes sold. Many of these home sales can be attributed to the expiration of the home buyer tax credit at the end of April. For the number of homes that sold, this represents a 36% increase compared with May of last year, and a 16.67% increase compared with April.

Prices of May home sales was down by 6% compared with May of last year. The average price of Cache Valley homes sold was $168,614 while the median price was $153,220. The median price was one of the lowest monthly medians since early 2006. The homes that sold were also smaller than normal, with an average square footage of 2,098 square feet.
Because many of the home purchases were advanced as result of the government stimulus, the future Logan Real Estate market isn't looking quite as bright. Real Estate inventory is way up, there are 58 more homes on the market than there were just a month ago. The current 839 Cache County Homes for Sale is getting close to the highest number of home listings Cache County has ever had.

Home sales in the next few months should be down for Cache Valley Real Estate. The 162 homes that are currently under contract is down 29% from last month. We should expect a drop in real estate activity during June and July as hangover from the tax credit. It will be interesting to see what happens with the local real estate market at the end of the summer.

Cornerstone Real Estate Top Brokerage for Home Sales in May

Of the different real estate brokerages in Cache County during May, Cornerstone Real Estate Professionals was by far the number one Logan Real Estate brokerage again. For the month May Cornerstone had 31 residential closings just in Cache County, 9 more than any other local brokerage. Cornerstone also had 10 other Utah Real Estate closings that were mostly in Weber and Davis County.

Residential Home Sales in Cache County for May:

1. Cornerstone .................................31
2. Parker Real Estate ......................22
3. Coldwell Banker ...........................21
4. Youngblood Real Estate ..............17
5. Century 21 ....................................15
6. @Home Realty Network ............15