Changes are coming in April as it appears that we have turned the corner on our low inventory. During the last week of March a surge of listings began to hit the market and at the same time Pending sales showed signs of an early peak. As of March 31st, we finally broke through the 3,300 homes for sale level. We still have a long ways to go to get back to what we all feel is a normal count of around 5,000 listings. Another milestone for 2015 is our closed sale units. With over 2,000 home sales in the books, this is the fastest start to our buying year in at least 5 years. We are currently 350 sales ahead of last year.
Even with all of this activity, there are still segments of the market that are not seeing the frenzy of activity. This is mostly the higher price ranges where both the buyer pool and listing inventory is lower. This portion of the market tends to be slower to act, but all signs are pointing to an increase in inventory at the $350,000 range and up. New construction above the $300,000 price range makes up almost 50% of all home inventory compared to under $300,000 where the re-sale inventory ratio is 80/20 to new construction.
All in all, buyers that are able to act quickly are creating the demand for sellers and sellers are responding. Mortgage interest rates continue to remain low and the economy is showing more signs of recovery in many sectors. Our market is poised for a very strong spring into summer time period.
