The Bay County house market is still struggling.
Summer is usually considered the hot selling season for houses, since people like to move while the kids are out of school. Given that, I was expecting (praying for?) a bit of a boost to the single family market in June, but it didn’t materialize.
House sales in Panama City and Panama City Beach.
132 single family homes sold in June, down from 147 in May, but up from 124 in June of 2010. The median sales price was $139,000, which is the lowest it has been since 2003, with the exceptions of March and April of this year. The good news is that inventory continues to drop. There are currently 1552 houses listed for sale, with equates to 11.75 months worth of inventory. A healthy market is 5-6 months of inventory, so current number sounds horrible, but when you consider that we had 23 months of inventory a little over a year ago, it doesn’t sound so bad! At least we are moving in the right direction. Average “days on market” was 145 in June, and average “dollars per square foot” was $95.
Cash buyers are still buying houses.
32 (24%) of June sales were cash, indicating that investors are still bargain hunting. That bargain hunting is happening all over the price spectrum…those cash sales ranged from $12,000 to $390,000, with one sale closing in 3 days! No, that one wasn’t me, but if you have a house that you need to sell quickly, I can help.
Price it right to sell your house.
Yes, it seems obvious, but I still see some sellers asking 2005 prices in 2011. What it “used to be worth”, or “what it’s assessed for”, or “what I paid for it” are irrelevant. Buyers have lots of options when they are looking at houses, and if you have had people looking at yours and not making offers, it means they are seeing better values elsewhere. A lack of offers is the market whispering in your ear “You are overpriced”! The good news is that people are still buying houses. You just have to price yourself competitively to attract those buyers