The National Association Of Realtors released their existing home sales report for April 2008 yesterday.  As one would expect, the numbers tell the tale of a buyer’s market.  Nationally, existing home sales are down 17.5% versus the same time last year. 

Another important metric to look at in the report is the “months supply of homes”.  This is simply calculated by looking at the rate the market is accepting a particular number of homes and then seeing how long it would take for the market to get rid of all its inventory should someone not put another home on the market.  In 2005, nationally we had a 4.5 month supply of homes.  As of this month’s number, that supply has increased to 11.2 months. 

Interestingly enough, when the numbers are broken down regionally, the northeast is actually doing the best (relatively speaking of course) out of the four regions specified in the report. The northeast’s sales have dropped by 14.7%, better than the Midwest, Southern, and Western regions. 

Average home sale prices still declined as well.  The average home sale price in April of 2007 in the Northeast was $309,500.  This April it came in at 295,000, a 4.7% decrease.

What does this mean for greater Nashua NH real estate area home sellers?  This report doesn’t mean that “nothing is selling”. It means that homes are selling but if you price your home too high there is a very good chance that you will end up chasing the market down if the market continues to descend.  One of the best things that you can do is apply for the guaranteed home sale program, a new program that I have introduced for sellers who need to get their home sold quickly but still preserve their equity. 

For buyers in the greater Nashua NH real estate market, there are several properties on the market that are available, particularly foreclosure and motivated seller properties.  From what I have seen in the marketplace, many banks have finally started to figure out that they can’t sit on all their inventory any longer, hence they have been getting much more aggressive on cutting their prices to get the inventory to move.  Amazingly enough, with all the changes in the mortgage industry, it is still possible to buy a home with no money down.

Andy Benjamin
REMAX Properties I
603-674-5864 (cell – best way to reach)
603-886-9380 x2329

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