Market Conditions - April 5, 2006 by Carla L. Davis
"Pending home sales are showing signs of leveling out, indicating that the housing market is entering a period of stabilization," reported the National Association of Realtors (NAR) on April 3rd. The report continues by saying that January experienced a strong upward revision and was higher than the December reading. Experts in Mission Viejo, California, are painting a slightly different picture about their market. This city, which boasts upscale living and low crime rates, is seeing no huge shortage of buyers on the market. But increased inventories have been pushing market favor strongly to the buyers -- and has been creating falling prices in some neighborhoods. An increase in inventory means that supply is currently outpacing demand. The market is far less frenzied than it was last year at this time. But sellers need not worry. This area is still one of the fastest growing in the nation. The average single family home price is currently $706,664, down slightly -- around 1 percent -- from February. Further east, Denver, Colorado, is producing a fairly predictable market -- holding true to the NAR report of stabilizing real estate. While condo and townhome prices appear to be on a downward trend -- the average price is 9.8 percent lower than last year -- experts report that this drop has a lot to do with the season and weather -- and has seen drops like this in the past. The average prices for single family homes are also down -- which is more cause for worry in a city that saw a similar real estate bubble burst in the 1990's. One expert reports that "higher-end sales have been artificially inflating prices, and that with a drop in sales of higher priced homes the entire market is negatively affected, but it's a little too soon to tell with only two months' data available." | 
