Marblehead First Quarter Report
The first quarter is usually the slowest of the year for sales and that pattern continued in 2013. But that doesn’t tell the whole story. As the quarter went on, activity accelerated as I have reported in several posts.
Sales were 31 vs 27 (29 vs 24 excluding distressed sales), and the median price $497,000, up 6% from last year’s depressed level, caused by the high percentage of sales under $500,000.
The most significant statistic from Q1 is the Assessed to Sale Ratio, which compares Assessed Values to Sales Prices. When sales take place above AV, the ASR is below 100%. So the lower the number the better the market! In my year rend review Read Review I pointed out that the ASR had declined during the year for SFH sales under $500,000.
Look now at the data for Q1.
Source: MLS, Oliver Reports
We have seen quite a sharp drop in the ASR in all price ranges. Bear in mind this data refers to just 29 sales that closed in Q1, which means sales agreed late last year into early this.
At the end of March there were a further 46 houses with an accepted offer and these, which will be in Q2 numbers, will reflect the stronger market seen in recent weeks.
This is incredibly useful information,especially when I am talking with sellers who can’t understand why they aren’t getting offers closer to their assessed value. Now I can show them the progress we are making in the first quarter of 2013 in attaining sales prices which are at or above their assessed value. This is a dramatic shift from the languishing years since 2007 in regards to the ratio between sales price and assessed value. Thank you for the refreshing look at data you are able to provide for all of us. I really appreciate this.
Lynne