Market update provided by Claudia Armbrister of RE/MAX Savannah in Savannah, Georgia.

With more than 8,131 active home listings (not including more than 5,000 new homes for sale under construction & spec homes) as of 1 October 2008 – the trend has been towards a “BUYER’s market” – with a definite increase in sales overall!

We averaged approx. 1,000 new listings per month in 2007 and thus far in 2008 the same applies, plus some. More supply than demand – great for home buyers, not so great for sellers. Higher end homes are languishing in this “SOFT” market. Homes priced to sell (not overly priced) and in great condition are usually under contract in 1-3 weeks, while others linger or incur increasingly lower offers, due to time on the market and the rising costs for seller(s) to “hang on” for that offer they “want”, and ultimately negatively affecting the bottom line.

If sellers want top dollar and to get their home sold in under 60-120 days, they need to price according to THIS more cautious market and have it Model Home perfect and seriously entertain ALL offers – even if it might be lower than they had desired.

Listings are more in demand for homebuyers of homes under Continue reading this post

I will be cutting back on my contributions here because of time constraints, but I wanted to offer what I have found in the Savannah, GA real estate market and see if others are experiencing the same thing.

Looking at the first six months of 2006, 2007 and 2008, I used new home sales for each year from west Chatham and Effingham counties—where most of the new construction is taking place.

This year there have been 186 homes sold with an average sales price per square foot of $110.75 with an average sales price of $222,363, 145 days on the market and a 98% sales price to listing price.

In 2007 there were 350 homes sold with an average sales price per square foot of $119.05 with an average sales price of $220,410, 130 days on the market and a 100% sales price to listing price.

In 2006 there were 421 homes sold with an average sales price per square foot of $114.63 with an average sales price of $212,633, 131 days on the market and a 100% sales price to list price.

The biggest changes have been the number of homes sold and sales price per sq ft. Buyers are getting much more for their money, but fewer buyers are buying.

I then looked at resales in midtown Savannah to see how resales compare with Continue reading this post