Weekly market report

For the week ending January 31, new listings continue at a lower level than
seen last year, clocking in at 1,635—a 15.3 percent drop. Conversely, pending
sales continue to raise sand with 673 recorded for this week's report—25
percent above last year. Basically, this is all welcome news. Having fewer
listings on the market, combined with an increase in pending sales, helps to
reduce the Months Supply of Inventory to 13.5 percent when compared to last
year at this time—down from 8.9 to 7.7 months. This means it will take the
current supply of houses for sale 7.7 months to sell (on average).
The Percent of Original List Price Received at Sale continues to fall, with the
January figure of 89.5 sitting at 1.6 percent less than 2008. It's important to
consider sales prices of foreclosure homes and how they affect this figure.
Our new Housing Affordability Index jumped to 202 in February. This is a new
record and means that the median family income is 202 percent of what is
necessary to qualify for the median-priced home. Again, we must consider how
the sales prices in the lender-mediated market are affecting this figure, but we
can say with some confidence that there are a number of very attractive buying
opportunities in the local housing market.