September 26, 2007

Current listing inventory - 256 active listings in Owatonna as of today. Inventory dropped again over the last couple of days and that continues to be a good sign. Average days on the market in Owatonna has bumped up a bit to 150 days. The number of pending listings has remained fairly stable at 41 houses. Average days on the market has climbed up to 170. This big change is due to some of the longer term listings getting offers. There have been 301 properties Closed properties since 01-01-07, with an average days on market time of 125 days. There continues to be encouraging signs this week. Showings on our listings have increased slightly & the active inventory has dropped again. These signs are positive for us here in Owatonna.

Last year at this same time, we had Sold 333 homes with an average day on market time of 92 days. So 2006 compared to 2007 we are down 11.3% in sales (not as bad as much of the media would lead you to believe). The big change however, it has taken 26% longer to sell those homes in 2007 than it did in 2006.

If you are a seller in todays market you have to realistic on your price, have everything ready to go on your house, AND be patient while waiting for your home to sell. As we mentioned above it is taking an average of 170 days (5 1/2 months) for homes to go pending right now. In addition there are several price ranges that have been more active in 2007 than others. You can click on the link to review the Market Absorbtion chart.

Interest rates climbed slightly to 6.25% on September 26, 2007.