September 24, 2007

Current listing inventory - 260 active listings in Owatonna as of today. Inventory dropped again this week and we are hoping that is going to be a trend that will continue. Average days on the market in Owatonna has bumped up a bit to 150 days. The number of pending listings has remained stable at 40 houses. Average days on the market has leapt up to 160. This big change is due to some of the longer term listings getting offers. There have been 299 properties Closed properties since 01-01-07, with an average days on market time of 124 days. There have been several encouraging signs this week, the active inventory has dropped again, pending listings have remained even, and 11 homes closed last week. All of these signs are positive for us here in Owatonna. Are we out of this slow down completely? We don't believe so, but the signs are certainly pointing in the right direction.

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 is, 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 ready to be patient while waiting for your home to sell. 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 remained calm at 6.125% on September 24, 2007.