April 25, 2008

Skeptical

It seems everyone keeps putting their hope on the fact that Spring sales season should be underway.  I keep reading different blogs and reports that the market’s getting skeptical.  Some are getting excited.  I’m just getting well, skeptical.

Is it the market really turning the corner?  As I reported last week, prices are still heading south fairly rapidly.  Then there’s the other market indicator:  inventory. A quick shoutout to Bubbletracking for compiling this information.   When you compare the numbers of listings to sales from the 1st quarter ’07 to 1st quarter ‘08 the numbers paint a pretty ugly picture.   Last year in March in Orange County there were 15,324 listings on the market and 3,130 sales.  This year, the numbers are pretty grim.  There are even more listings on the market (17,434) and nearly half the sales (1,663). 

While people many are reporting the market having turned a new corner, I still remain skeptical.  Especially in lieu of numbers like these.