Real Estates Top End is Moving Fast, Lower and Average Homes Not Selling Well
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This just makes sense. The lower end and average homes are the ones that are stuck while the top end of the market is doing very well according to a New York Times article. Think about it, if you are buying in the top end of the market, odds are you are not stressing about getting financed or what kind of loan you will get. Your goal is not to buy at the bottom of the market.
Meanwhile those who are buying the volume homes are wondering if they will even be able to get a loan and if they do will the rate be something they can afford when the closing comes. You will hear of foreclosures on the top end of the market but don’t be fooled, these are not atypical. The reasons for foreclosures and the fear of property values dropping are not being felt at the top end.
So while we preach all real estate is local we also have to remember that the real estate markets vary by price ranges.
“The homes that are having a hard time selling are the average-priced homes,” said Vanessa Justice, a real estate agent with Pacific Union GMAC in the Bay Area, where the median house price is about $750,000. For upper-end homes, she said, “it’s actually pretty crazy right now.”
It has been a while since real estate agents used the word “crazy” in a positive way, but Ms. Justice is onto something here: the high end of the market is surviving the slump much better than any other segment. Even as foreclosures keep rising and overall sales continue to plummet, more expensive homes have staged a bit of a comeback in recent months. They’re spending less time languishing on the market than others, and their prices appear to be holding up better.
This split in the market helps explain why the sales of Manhattan apartments, some of the priciest homes in the country, have remained fairly strong. The national trend has gone largely unnoticed, though, because neither the federal government nor the National Association of Realtors — the main sources of housing data — report statistics for different price segments. via the New York Times.
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Comment by Bryce Beattie on 12 July 2007:
Hasn’t it pretty much always been that way?
Comment by Tom on 12 July 2007:
Bryce
I would say that 6 months ago the top end was sitting still waiting to see if the reports on a large drop was going to affect the top end. When they saw it wasn’t, everyone got back in the pool.
Comment by Larry Cragun on 12 July 2007:
Real Estate is local. What is true for one community is not for all communities. Lar
Comment by havensofmanhattan on 12 July 2007:
True. Always has been I think.
Comment by Behren Kittrell on 13 July 2007:
In the lowcountry area of Charleston and Mt Pleasant, SC the average days on market for all homes regardless of price was about 65 days last year. It will be interesting to see the stats for this year.