BOWES Real Estate Blog

by Kirk Nahabedian

Realtors are screaming from the roof tops. “We need inventory”.
It’s been this way for some time now but it appears that seller inquiries are once again beginning to increase.
I thought I would include an excerpt from an email I wrote to a potential client;
“I also thought you might be interested in some numbers I’ve been looking at.
It’s pretty much a given that our market is really short on inventory so I was doing a little research to see where things are. Sometimes I look at the absorption rate to kind of gauge the market. In other parts of the country it’s not uncommon to see about a 6 month supply of homes. That’s considered a normal market. Around here the worst I’ve ever seen was about 4.5 months.
I looked at 2/3 family condos in the $325k to 425k price range. There is presently only 1 condo for sale. Frankly I could’ve stopped there because that pretty much tells the story. Anyway, over the last 12 months there have been 58 sales in that range. So we basically have a 1 week supply. Crazy stuff. The good news for you, if things stay the same, your condo should sell fairly quickly. If the market looks even remotely like this when you’re ready it may even warrant a shot at a higher price. For comparison sake about 5 years ago, when the market wasn’t that great, we had a 1.8 month supply in the same category and there had been 70 sales over the preceding 12 months. ”
Here are some numbers that will make you shake your head;

Arlington MA past 12 months 290 single family homes sold. Current inventory 8.
Belmont MA past 12 months 169 single family homes sold. Current inventory 8.
Lexington MA past 12 months 365 single family homes sold. Current inventory 38.
Watertown MA past 12 months 90 single family homes sold. Current inventory 6.

If you’re thinking of selling it might be a good time!

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