Numbers are up and prices are down!

The good news is that the real estate market at the Lake of the Ozarks continues.
Sales volume in terms of units and dollars is up, and foreclosures are down.

There was cautious optimism after the first quarter of the year when sales continued a trend seen last year. Total units sold at the lake in the first quarter were up about 11 percent, and are now up about 13 percent from the previous year as of July 8.

This information is from the BDAR Multiple Listing Service.

The market at the lake has trended up in sales of units for the last three years. Everyone wants to know if we have reached the bottom of the market, and based on the reports the bottom was in 2010. The problem in determining the bottom is that you can only know when that has occurred when the bottom has already passed.

Sales volume
Sales volume for all types of properties as of July 8 was $182,761,641. That compares to $156,452,696 for the same six-month period of 2011, an increase of $26,308,945 or 14.3 percent.
Reflecting the increase is sales volume is the number of total units sold, which went from 889 through July 8 of last year to 1,026 for this year.

Consistent with the trend, lakefront homes are up 18 percent in units and resale condos are up 27 percent in units sold compared to the same period last year.

Despite the improving overall market, there are some parts of the market that have remained flat such as commercial and non-lakefront land.

Waterfront lots

Long a difficult segment of the market to show signs of life, waterfront lots have started to sell. The units sold are up slightly from last year, but Realtors have seen the average sale price jump by $47,924 to $174,557. That’s an increase of more than 27 percent.

As of early July this year, 23 lakefront lots had sold compared to 18 a year ago for the first six months.

Building has picked up nationwide, and it appears that the lake will follow. Offshore homes are up 6 percent in units sold compared to last year’s numbers with days on market increasing to 150 from 161. There were 348 offshore homes sold through July 8 this year compared to 328 

Foreclosures down

Foreclosure sales at the lake are down in units 14 percent from last year from 199 last year to 174 this year. Condos were only market segments that saw an increase in foreclosures. New condominiums (original sale) jumped from no foreclosures a year ago through July 8 to 4 this year; re-sale condominiums edge up one from 18 a year ago to 19 this year.

It is almost impossible to find a lakefront foreclosure now. Buyers come into the market place obviously wanting a deal and ask Realtors for foreclosures. It is difficult to make them accept that we were never a foreclosure market with less than 1/2 percent listing being in foreclosure.

Buyers wanting a foreclosure often expand to owner sales that are motivated and get the type of property that they are interested in at as good of a price without the uncertainty of the foreclosure property.

The future

Of course, the wild card is always the election. But, with the attractive interest rate and consumer confidence building nationwide, we don't expect to see any significant negative effect regardless of the election results.

On the market

Market Time for lakefront homes has increased slightly to 181 days on the market but, the list-to-sale price ratio has improved to 93.3 percent from 91.6 percent last year.

The average sale price in lakefront homes is down to $291,853 which is reflective of buyers rushing in to snatch up the deals.

Condo units on the market is flat at 183 days. The list-to-sale price for condos has increased to 94.8 percent from last year same time period of 93.8 percent.
 

If you are in the market for a home at the lake, please contact the Spouses Selling Houses team. Until next time! Ebbie :)