September Home Sales an Prices Down in Logan

September was another awfully bad month for real estate in Logan Utah. Only 59 listed homes have been reported as sold on the MLS so far, and the average sold price is down nearly 12% from a year ago.

Cache County home sales were down by 33.7% compared with September of last year. They were down 13% from last month, which was a really bad month for home sales. This marks the lowest September of home sales since 2002. I thought that the tax credit hangover was over, and that the real estate sales numbers would normalize, but it appears as if it will be more time until we see home sales numbers increase.

Cache County Real Estate prices also appear to be dropping. The September sales price was just $162,582, down 11.96% from a year ago. The median sales price was just $155,850. Prices will likely continue to drop as inventory is still too high. There are currently 871 residential homes for sale in the Logan Utah area. This is 116 more listings than at this time last year.

The next few months don't look like they will be much different for home sales. There are currently 99 homes under contract. This is down from 108 under contract properties at this time last month.

Foreclosures and HUD Home Numbers are Up In Logan

The fact is that foreclosure numbers in Cache Valley are increasing. There are currently more foreclosure and HUD Homes for sale than I have ever seen before. The increased foreclosure numbers are result of declining home prices, overextended borrowers, and a poor economy.

When I first started selling real estate over five years ago, there was rarely more than one or two HUD homes each month.

There are currently 12 homes for sale in Cache County that are HUD properties. These include townhouses, condos, manufactured homes, ramblers and bungalows. Most of these homes are priced at less than $100,000, and the most expensive of the HUD homes currently for sale has a list price of $145,000. Some of the properties are only available to people who want to owner occupy them, but most of these homes are now open to all bidders.

Click this link if you want to view the currently listed HUD Homes for sale in Logan Utah.

Read More at Real Estate Logan - Number of Hud Homes Up in Logan Utah

Lease Option Homes in Logan Utah

The slow real estate market has increased the number of homes for sale in Logan UT that are offering lease options. Right now there are 22 lease option homes for sale in Logan. A couple years ago, I assisted some sellers with a lease option. At that time there were only three other homes being offered as lease options.

Click this link if you would like to view the current Lease Option Homes for Sale in Logan Utah.

With a “Lease Option,” or “Rent to Own home,” sellers rent their home out giving the renter the option to buy the home at a future date. Lease option contracts usually require a substantial down payment. The down payment will be subtracted from the purchase price in the event that the renter buys the house. Lease options also generally have a portion of the rent that goes towards the option as well.

Read more at Logan Real Estate Blog - Lease Options Up in Logan

Cache County August Home Sales Numbers Improved

The good news is that home sales numbers for Cache County Utah during August were substantially improved compared with last month. The bad news is that although the 68 homes sold is an improvement, it is still down nearly 40% compared with last August of last year. This graph shows the comparison of home sales numbers during 2010, compared with the average monthly home sales over the previous five years.



The other good news is that it looks like September home sales will be even better than August home sales. There are more Cache County Homes under contract than there have been in the last two months. We currently have 107 homes under contract compared with just 98 at this time last month.



One interesting thing about the Logan Utah Homes that sold during August is that they were bigger than homes that have sold over the previous four months. The average home that sold was 2,489 square feet, and had an average original list price of $221.767. During April, the average original list price of homes sold was just $176,975, and the average square footage was 2,093 square feet. I think this statistic shows that a much larger percentage of August home sales were made by non first time buyers, whereas, during April the large majority of homes were purchased by first time buyers.

Short Sale Numbers Up in Logan

The number of homes listed as short sales has risen in Logan over the past month. While the total number of Cache County real estate listings is nearly identical to a month ago, the percentage of these homes requiring bank approval has increased. 4.75 percent of the listed homes in Cache Valley are short sales.

How Do Cache County 2010 Home Sales Compare With Previous Years?

Those who read my blog regularly know that Cache County Home sales were way down last month. I decide to run a little comparison, to see how this years Logan Real Estate sales compare with the average over the previous five years. Here are the results:

Overall, home sales are down, but were down just slightly before the Tax Credit Expiration. May home sales were above the average, as that is the month when most of the last minute tax credit recipients closed. But July home sales were pitiful. As you can see July is usually the second best month for closings. August, which is traditionally the best month for home sales appears as if it won't be much better than July. Hopefully things will get closer to end the year off as the results of the Tax Credits wear off.

Logan July Home Sales Were Really Low

From watching the statistics and market trends over recent months, I knew that July home sales were going to low. But, I didn't think they would be this bad. I look outside, and the 90 degree temperatures sure don't indicate that its the middle of winter. My unofficial statistics show that last month was the worst July for home sales in Logan Utah since the MLS started keeping stats in 1997.

July Cache County Home Sales were down 47% compared with July of 2009, and were less than half of last months home sales. Clearly, the tax credit had a drastic impact on the movement of home sales. Historically, July is one of the biggest months for Logan UT Real Estate.

The sad news is that it doesn't look like this is just a one month statistical blip either. So far, August sales don't look like they will be much improved. When I did my statistics at the beginning of last month there were 98 under contract homes in Cache County. Right now there are just 98.

The number of Utah Homes for Sale is rising. Cache County now has 906 residential homes for sale, which is an all time high. At July's home sales pace this represents more than 17 months of active inventory. If you are one of the 900 Cache Valley home sellers, and need to sell, now is the time to do something drastic. It looks like it is going to be a long winter for Real Estate in Cache Valley.

One really peculiar stat that stuck out to me was the average days on market. This may have just been an anomaly from a limited sample size, but the average days on market during July was down. This doesn't indicate that homes are selling faster, it just shows that many of the recently listed homes priced their homes right from the beginning and were able to sell.