October Real Estate Market Shows Signs of Tapering Off
October has always been a transition month for Des Moines real estate. We normally see a bump of business that begins in September after Labor Day. October can be a hit or miss month primarily due to weather. This past month has seen more than its fair share of rain and cold, resulting in signs that the real estate market is beginning to slow down for the year. It didn’t help that the four-letter word for frozen precipitation appeared (twice) in the last week of the month. But there have been other indications as well that home sales are starting to fall off a bit.
Open Houses Have Been On The Rise
The Year over Year Weekly Open House Count graphic above shows a distinct increase following week 35 (Labor Day weekend). The orange bars are 2018 open house levels and the red running line is 2019.
As sellers begin to feel the chill in the air and the days ticking by, there have been more open houses held each week than any other time of year with one week exceeding over 1,200 homes held open. That translated into 30% of all homes for sale. The only time we had a higher percentage of open houses was back in mid-March (when inventory levels were lower) pushing 33% opens.
Price Reductions Have Been On The Rise
Remember, week 35 was Labor Day. Look at the Price Reduction activity since then. Even though it’s tailing off at the end of October, it still remains above the levels over the past two year. In fact, Price Reductions have been common most of 2019 which is the strongest indicator that the market values have peaked.
Home Inventory Levels Have Been On The Rise
Every year, the For Sale Inventory starts out in January at its lowest levels and quickly climbs as the spring market arrives. This build up of inventory continues until mid to late summer at which time the decline of new listings entering market begins. This year the listing inventory counts continued to climb all the way to the middle of October when we hit our all time high for the year of 4,269 homes for sale on October 11th. In fact, we are at 86 days in a row and counting with inventory levels above 4,000!
Here is a recap of real estate activity in the month of October
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October Metro Single Family Resale Data
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October Metro Condo/Townhome Resale Data
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October Metro Single Family New Construction Data
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October Metro Condo/Townhome New Construction Data
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Click This Link for the 2018 Des Moines Real Estate Year End Market Recap
~Les Sulgrove, Vice President
VIA Group REALTORS
If you are interested in selling your home or purchasing a home, give me a call! I will help you determine your best strategy based on your local market data.