Realtors, home builders say local market is good
Thursday, May 22, 2008
By BRIAN LAWSON
Times Business Writer brian.lawson@htimes.com Despite the national trend,area is strong and growing
Seeking to calm fears about the housing market locally and to highlight the favorable job growth trends, area Realtors and home builders presented their case at a press conference Wednesday.
Among the items highlighted were rising median sale prices in 2008, sellers getting prices near their asking price and a local economy expected to add an estimated 16,000 high-paying jobs in the next five years.
John Allen, president of the Huntsville-Madison County Builders Association, said he wanted to get out the message that despite concerns raised by national reporting on a weak housing market, the Huntsville market is strong and continues to grow.
"We're in unique economic times, and people see that and they worry about it," Allen said. "But our numbers show we're trending upward. We're trying to allay their concerns for local real estate."
The Huntsville Area Association of Realtors has partnered with the local home builders to create a Web site -- healthyrealestate.info -- that provides details about the area real estate market. The site captured the upbeat tone of Wednesday's presentation at the Huntsville Area Association of Realtors office. The event included Mayor Loretta Spencer, Realtors Association President Clif Miller and the presidents of the state's Realtors and home builders associations.
Miller said there is no better time to buy a home in the area. To support his claim, he cited healthy property values - median sales prices increased nearly 8 percent last year to $169,573 - long-term price appreciation, a 67 percent increase in property values since 2000 and low interest rates.
Huntsville has largely avoided the housing crisis that has plagued large sections of the U.S., and Wednesday's speakers stressed that there's no such thing as a national market. While 2007 marked the third-best year for the local housing market, 2008 is a bit behind that pace in several areas.
According to information provided by the local Realtors office through its Multiple Listing Service, so far in 2008 fewer houses have sold compared with the same period last year, houses are staying on the market longer, and the average sales price has fallen.
The MLS does not capture a number of transactions in which a Realtor is not used, but officials conceded Wednesday that there is a larger inventory of homes on the market - 2,816 in April compared with 2,268 in April 2007 - than last year. That inventory is a temporary problem, said Allen and Larry Smith, president of the Home Builders Association of Alabama.
Currently, the Huntsville market has a seven-month inventory of homes. Inventory is calculated by dividing the number of homes listed for sale in a month by the number sold that month. The result shows, at the present rate, how long it would take to sell every listed home.
But Huntsville is still faring better than the rest of Alabama and the U.S. Statewide, the inventory of homes on the market is almost 11 months, said Russell Davis, executive vice president of the state Home Builders Association. Nationally, there's an 11-month backlog, according to the Federal Reserve.
While there is good news to share locally, people are also taking a little longer to buy homes, said Sherry Dinges, a Huntsville Realtor and president of the Alabama Association of Realtors.
"We're probably as busy, but we're probably showing more properties to people because there are more properties out there," she said. "We're typically writing three offers before someone will buy.
"People are fearful, so we do a market analysis for them, showing there is no reason to be concerned - they are investing long-term."
