There were 348* closed properties in the nine residential zip codes in Greensboro. That’s up about 34% from June 2009 when there were 259 closed properties. (This is only slightly lower than June 2008, which had 388 closings, but down 19% from June 2007, when there were 428 properties closed….>meh<…)

This was the 5th straight month of improving numbers.

The average closed price is up as well, at $172,052 which is 5% higher than last June ($163,663).

The sales data by zip codes shows that almost all had year-over-year increase in sales. Only 27406 was flat. Two zips, 27401 and 27455 actually had more closings in June 2010 than in the previous two years.

The sales numbers for July will be a test, since the effects of the federal home buyer tax credit will have passed for the most part. But for now, let’s celebrate this hot, hot June.

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If you have questions, comments or a good joke to share shoot me an email.  I’m a full time Realtor®, I love what I do and would be thrilled to hear from you.

* All data from Triad Multiple Listing Service (MLS) as of June 29, 2010,  and is only as good as the information entered, which is done by humans, who make errors. The information is only for those residential zip codes for Greensboro and does not include the surrounding communities.

Although 3300 properties is down from last week’s number of 3314 (and the previous week’s – 3304) the inventory number is still too high and the average list price is still off from where we were last year.

Some more details:

• The percentage of foreclosures overall is about 8%. This has been a fairly consistent number.
• The zip code with the highest number of listings is 27410. Again, nothing new there.
• The highest priced property is $3,500,000. The lowest is $12,000.
• Of the current listings, about 18% are ‘pending’.
• 85% are single-family
• 17% are townhouses
• 13% are condominiums

At this point what we will hope is that the inventory is leveling off. One the number of properties on the market being to decline, prices will at some point start to increase. The last couple of months have had good sales data. It remains to be seen how the next couple of months will treat the housing market in Greensboro. But whatever the news, you’ll be able to find it here.

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If you have questions, comments or a good joke to share shoot me an email.  I’m a full time Realtor®, I love what I do and would be thrilled to hear from you.

* All data from Triad Multiple Listing Service (MLS) as of June 29, 2010,  and is only as good as the information entered, which is done by humans, who make errors. The information is only for those residential zip codes for Greensboro and does not include the surrounding communities.

My cautious hopefulness last week about the teensiest indication of an improvement in Greensboro foreclosure listings was short-lived. Listings were back up to 18* this week and all zip codes except 27409 had at least one. And the 12-week rolling number shot back up as well, to 179 from 169.

The highest priced foreclosure for the week ending June 13th is $379,900 in the 27408 zip code. The lowest is $12,900in  27407.

Three zip codes continue to dominate the total listings over the last 12 weeks: 27405, 27406, 27407. Between them they account for 58% of the total foreclosures listed.

The rest of the data rolls out like so:

It’s obviously going to be a while before the backlog of foreclosures that are currently in the pipeline to work through the system before we see any appreciable improvement in these numbers.

Meh.

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If you have questions, comments or a good joke to share shoot me an email.  I’m a full time Realtor®, I love what I do and would be thrilled to hear from you.

* All data from Triad Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and is only as good as the information entered, which is done by humans, who make errors. The information is only for those residential zip codes for Greensboro and does not include the surrounding communities.

Look at that.313 closed sales in Greensboro in May. That’s the fourth month of increase in a row, and a 25% increase over May, 2009.

I know, I know. There was the Federal Home Buyer’s Tax Credit that spurred sales along. And after June 30th (or September 30th if a Senate proposal is approved), the deadline to close on existing contracts to claim the credit, there will possibly be a drop off.

So what? If the purpose of the tax credit was to get people buying houses, it worked. I’m not about to pooh-pooh the good numbers because they may not last any more than I would say Summer doesn’t count because Winter will surely return.

Better is better. And this is better. It is also 313 houses that are no longer on the market. True that until our overall inventory starts to decline, things are going to be tough for many people. But the only way to have a decrease in inventory is to have closings. Which brings us back to the good showing for May.

The average closed price was $168,440, the highest since November 2009, but 10% lower than May 2009. Prices will recover after sales pick up. That’s the way it works. The list price/closed price ratio was 96%, the same as virtually every month.

Sales were up in almost all 9 Greensboro zip codes except for 27455 which was down down by 2 and 27409 which was unchanged.

We must look at foreclosures in any discussion of real estate these days and on that front there may be some decent news. Namely, the percentage of closings that were foreclosures in May 2010 was 16%, the 6th decline in that number and down from the 23% in May 2009.

This is more hopeful data, as was last week’s Greensboro foreclosure listing numbers, that maybe (maybe, maybe) the tide is beginning to turn on this wretched chapter for the housing industry.

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If you have questions, comments or a good joke to share shoot me an email.  I’m a full time Realtor®, I love what I do and would be thrilled to hear from you.

* All data from Triad Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and is only as good as the information entered, which is done by humans, who make errors. The information is only for those residential zip codes for Greensboro and does not include the surrounding communities.

The average list price is $222,643, barely changed from last week’s 222,871.

What is a more telling statistic is the comparison with inventories this week last year. Again, we have more listings at an average lower price.

Interestingly, there is just about exactly 10% more inventory than last year and the average list price is almost exactly 10% lower.

The effect of supply and demand on price, man. It’s one of those constants in life. Like cellulite.

Here’s the rest of the parade of graphics:

It will be interesting to see when the gap between last year’s and this year’s inventory numbers – and the average list prices – start to go back towards each other.

As soon as that happens, look for it here.

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If you have questions, comments or a good joke to share shoot me an email.  I’m a full time Realtor®, I love what I do and would be thrilled to hear from you.

* All data from Triad Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and is only as good as the information entered, which is done by humans, who make errors. The information is only for those residential zip codes for Greensboro and does not include the surrounding communities.

Regular readers of this site know that my particular method of tracking all sorts of Greensboro real estate information is by zip code. Zip code profiles help drill down that information a bit further. This is the second such profile on this site. (My profile of 27410 can be found here. And, yes, it has been a minute since I did that profile. No sense in rushing these things;)  )

BTW, this is very broad information about local real estate, as reported in the Triad MLS. For a comprehensive look at demographics for this zip code, look here.

Today’s profile is of 27406.

First, the basics:

• 27406 is located in the southeast part of Greensboro, “southwest” being defined as south of Market Street and east of Elm Street.

• The average currently listed price of single family homes is $148,178, compared to that of all Greensboro zip codes, $249,784.

• 27406 is probably the largest zip area-wise and has the seconds most listings: 458 which represents 15% of the total listings in town at this time. 27410 is still king of the hill in that area with a whopping 622.

Current Listing Data (followed by same info for al zip codes combined)

• average active listing price (all property types): $146,510 ($223,107)

• single-family: 419 (91%), 2445 (74%)
• townhouses: 29 (6%), 482 (29%)
• condominium: 10 (2%), 357 (11%)

• foreclosure: 72 (16%) 264 (8%)

• highest list price (single-family): $899,000 ($4,900,00)
• lowest list price (single-family): $12,000 ($6,000)

12 Month Sales Data

Over the last 12 months, sales in the 27406 zip have looked like this:

• total number of closings (all property types): 418 (2,855)

• average closed priced (all types, last 12 months): $121,283 ($167,604)
• average list price (all property types): $146,510 ($160,356)
• average list/closed price percentage: 96% (96%)

• single-family: 295 (59%) 2,210 (77%)
• townhouse: 132 (27%) 386 (14%)
• condominium: 70 (14%) 245 (9%)

• foreclosure: 137 (33%) 565 (20%)

• highest closed price (single-family): $366,500 ($1,200,000)
• lowest closed price (single-family): $5,000 ($5,000)

Schools

Some of the schools children who live in 27406 attend are:

• Elementary: Alamance, Archer, Foust, Frazier, Gillespie Park, Lindley, Pleasant Garden, Sedalia, Southern, Sumner, Vandalia, Washington, Wiley
• Middle: Allen, Eastern, Hairston, Jackson, Kiser, Southeast, Southern
• High: Dudley, Eastern, Grimsley, Smith, Southeast, Southern

Some 27406 Listings

For your viewing pleasure….

3731 Williams Dairy Road (MLS# 570183) $239,900

5677 Old Randleman Rd (MLS# 565355) $279,500

1107 Glynis Lane (MLS# 576949)

331 Steeple Chase (MLS# 579043)

Keep an eye on this site for updates about this zip code and others.

As always, whether the news is good or bad, you’ll see it here.

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If you have questions, comments or a good joke to share shoot me an email.  I’m a full time Realtor®, I love what I do and would be thrilled to hear from you.

* All data from Triad Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and is only as good as the information entered, which is done by humans, who make errors. The information is only for those residential zip codes for Greensboro and does not include the surrounding communities.

Unlike the price of apples, though, when a community has too much housing inventory, the impact can be widely felt. After all, properties whose value drops  will be taxed less. (You can read how property taxes are calculated in Guilford County here.) While lower taxes sounds great for the homeowner, lower tax revenues across a large area mean drastic changes for the entire community.

At any rate, tracking the housing inventory in Greensboro shows what everyone probably knows: There’s a great many properties for sale. As of June 5th, per our local Multiple Listing System (the database all properties listed by area Realtors) showed there are 3304 residential properties on the market. These include both ‘active’ and ‘pending’ listings. I include those units whose sales are pending because until they close, they’re not sold. And there has been many a fumble twixt contract and key exchange.

Compared with the same week last year, inventory is up. This week last year there were 3024 homes listed.

At the same time, the average list price is down from the same week last year. $222,871 this year versus $244,812 last year.

These prices are averages across all property types, across all zip codes. The ‘price of apples’ in some zip codes is decidedly more robust than in others:

Of course, some of those 3304 listings are indeed slated to close. Keeping a good thought towards that, the break down of active/pending listings in property types is this:

And active/pending by zip code is this:

Sadly, there is a portion of these listings that are foreclosures. The breakdown of the percentage of foreclosures in the overall numbers follow:

Eventually, there will be more buyers and fewer available properties. Until then, maybe we should get used to applesauce.

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If you have questions, comments or a good joke to share shoot me an email.  I’m a full time Realtor®, I love what I do and would be thrilled to hear from you.

* All data from Triad Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and is only as good as the information entered, which is done by humans, who make errors. The information is only for those residential zip codes for Greensboro and does not include the surrounding communities.

*Meh*

As has been the case almost from the beginning of this sad state of affairs,  zip codes 27405 and 27406 are carrying the lion’s share of the listings, with 19% and 24%, respectively. But 27407 is now approaching their numbers with 18% of the foreclosures.

A big change has been in the 27410 zip code. At the beginning of the year, only about 7% of total listings were located there. Now it is about 13%. It should be noted that 27410 is by far the largest zip code both geographically and in regards to the number of overall listings, so that fact that there is a growing percentage of foreclosures isn’t surprising. You can read a profile of the 27410 zip code I wrote here.

Of the new foreclosure listings last week, the 15 were (mostly) spread evenly over 6 of 9 zips.

Comparing last week with the corresponding week from last year, and 2010 has been worse in both the actual number of listings for the week and in the 12-week rolling period. Way worse:

Frankly, there will probably be new foreclosures coming on the market for some time. Even while things may start improving in the economy as a whole, the foreclosure process take weeks and months to work through the pipeline. So we won’t see properties hit the market for some time that are already headed that way.

However the numbers shake out, you can read about them here.

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If you have questions, comments or a good joke to share shoot me an email.  I’m a full time Realtor®, I love what I do and would be thrilled to hear from you.

* All data from Triad Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and is only as good as the information entered, which is done by humans, who make errors. The information is only for those residential zip codes for Greensboro and does not include the surrounding communities

Wait. I know exactly what I’ll do. A cartwheel.

The National Association of Realtors reports that housing sales nationwide were up – way up – in April. And in Greensboro we did our share. There were 274 closings in April in Greensboro*. That’s the 4th straight month of increases, 18% more than last April and is actually the highest since – wait for it – August of 2008.

Granted, a great deal of this can surely be attributed to the Home Buyers’ Tax Credit which is now a part of our past. But thost 273 properties represent about 548 or happy folks, not including the movers, lenders, Realtors, appliance sales people, and pizza delivery people who benefit from housing sales. (It is almost obligatory that you order pizza to be delivered the at the end of a day of moving furniture. One wonders how people changes domiciles before Domino’s existed)

But there’s more to the upswing than just the raw number of sales. The average listing price and average sales price also increased, whilst the average days on market declined.

And if we look really closely, we see that in April, the percentage of closings that were foreclosures was less in 2010 (19%) than 2009 (27%). That can indicate that the sales in April were not investors look to scarf up deals but homeowners. Awesome.

Sales were up in most Greensboro zip codes, although 27405 and 27406 – those most impacted by foreclosure listings – didn’t enjoy the same lift. (Wow. Look at 27410 in 2007. Looks like it giving the finger to the rest of the graph!)

Who knows what the May sales will show us, but I’ll take four months of improvement over the alternative any day.

Now, please excuse me as I go to practice my cartwheels. If you hear sirens in town, you’ll know I need more work on them.

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If you have questions, comments or a good joke to share shoot me an email.  I’m a full time Realtor®, I love what I do and would be thrilled to hear from you.

* All data from Triad Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and is only as good as the information entered, which is done by humans, who make errors. The information is only for those residential zip codes for Greensboro and does not include the surrounding communities

Overall, the news about real estate has actually been more positive lately. I hesitate to type that too loudly as it may scare off the good mojo. And some of the good sales information is no doubt due to the Home Buyer’s Tax Credit that recently went the way of the VCR so we may start hearing more subdued reports regarding pending sales and mortgage applications. But there does seem to be a different atmosphere out there. I have clients who are interested in buying, even though they won’t be getting paid by the government to do so, and the wild look in many Realtors’ eyes has been turned down to a mere “freaked out” look rather than the “total panic” we’ve all gotten used to seeing.

Back to Greensboro’s foreclosures, suffice to say that there are plenty of them and the numbers continue to grow at a sickly rate every week. This is too bad because last year I was writing about how weekly listings and – to me, more illustrative of the situation – the number of listings over the previous 12 weeks was declining.

Not any more.

As a matter of fact, year over year comparisons of last week’s numbers show a decided increase in listings. And the trend shows no real indication of slowing.

The numbers:

The week ending last Sunday (May 23rd) had 19 new foreclosures listed. All but one Greensboro zip code – 27408 – had listings, with 27455 having the most at 5.

Looking at these zip codes over the last 4 weeks we see that 27405 and 27406 have had the most foreclosure listings at 15 and 17 respectively. There were no new listings in 27408 over the last four weeks.

Taking all foreclosure listings over all Greensboro zips over the last 12 weeks, it’s easy to see that see that there are still three zip codes that have been disproportionately impacted by foreclosures. 27405, 27406 and 27408 have a combined total of 114 listings over the last 12 weeks out of 186 for all zip codes. That translates to over 60% of foreclosures. On the other end of the spectrum, 27408 had 1% of foreclosures listed over the same period.

The 12-week rolling period isn’t any more cheering. The trend is up. And then up some more:

Being sufficiently depressed over all this so I decided to look at the same week last year. It didn’t make me feel any better:

I’m going to choose to believe all this activity is like when a toilet gets backed up and then a great woosh of … well, of stuff that smells exactly like these foreclosure numbers….goes flying through the pipes all at once.

Enough of my poetic writing. I’m off to make some showing appointments. That’s good news, right?

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If you have questions, comments or a good joke to share shoot me an email.  I’m a full time Realtor®, I love what I do and would be thrilled to hear from you.

* All data from Triad Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and is only as good as the information entered, which is done by humans, who make errors. The information is only for those residential zip codes for Greensboro and does not include the surrounding communities