January 2009 Market Update
When looking at January single-family-home prices for the Huntsville Metro Area we find that the average sales price for this recent month was $87 Sqr/Ft, while January 2008 prices averaged $91 Sqr/Ft, indicating a year-over-year seasonally adjusted price depreciation of -4.4%.
When we couple this month’s result with that of October (-2.2%), November (-2.1%), December (-5.5%), and realize that prices have actually moved below their moving average trend-line since September 2008 (as illustrated in the following chart), we can conclude that the average price of single-family-homes within our reporting area are beginning to show the stress and strain of the national housing crisis. Although we must be clear and state that this moderate price adjustment is still very much smaller than in many parts of the country.
In reviewing these statistics t is important to note, that the Huntsville Real Estate Market is now much smaller than two years ago by some ~42%, as 309 homes were sold in Jan-2007 while only 179 closings occurred in Jan-2009. Moreover it is also necessary to mention that the Jan-2009 declines are clearly apparent across all price ranges as illustrated in the following table:
| Price Range | 2008 Price | 2009 Price | Price Change | 2008 Sales | 2009 Sales | Sales Change |
| 0-150k | $70 | $59 | -15.7% | 89 | 55 | -38.2% |
| 150k-200k | $92 | $86 | -6.5% | 47 | 39 | -17.0% |
| 200k-300k | $99 | $97 | -2.0% | 64 | 49 | -23.4% |
| 300k-400k | $110 | $110 | 0% | 20 | 17 | -15% |
| 400k – up | $134 | $126 | -5.9% | 22 | 20 | -9.0 |
While some of the current 2009 price-range numbers are worse when compared from Jan-2007 some are not (e.g., higher priced homes declined earlier in the cycle and their current comparatives are thus smaller), it is of interest to note that a common trend is now being seen across all price ranges: sales have been declining and prices are weakening across the board, although to our own delight (as property owners) moderately so.
At this point in our analysis, we are beginning to look for bottom forming patterns in both sales and prices but given that the sales decline has been persistent for 2 years and that our moderate pricing weakness has only been on the scene for a few months it is difficult to speculate, although we are looking for a bottoming in both sales and prices prior to the up-coming summer selling season.
As always, if you do have any specific questions regarding your area of interest and price range please do not hesitate to email or give us a call.
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