December home sales ended on a positive note, bringing the 2013 Savannah area real estate market to a close on solid ground.
A total of 413 homes sold in December, an 8.7 percent increase over last year and about 55 more than last month. That means the total number of homes sold in 2013, 5,349, returned closer to their peak levels in 2007 than any time since.
“We have arrived,” said Jennifer Scroggs, the new president of the Savannah Area Realtors. “Year over year, we’re up 5 percent as far as new construction homes are concerned for the tri-county area. And for the last three months in a row, we closed more than 500 transactions consecutively, which is comparable to where we were in 2007.”
Scroggs noted that total units sold increased 9 percent over 2012 and homes sold for an average of $10,000 more. Price per square foot also increased by $5.
In December, the median home sale price was $175,000, a slight dip from $180,000 last month. Overall, median home prices ended the year about $7,800 higher than 2012.
The increase in home prices is good news for anyone whose home lost value during the crash. Nationwide, home prices, including distressed sales, increased 11.8 percent, according to residential property tracker CoreLogic.
With increasing home prices, flattening inventory and a decreasing absorption ratio, there could be a slight shift in seller dynamics.
“It’s still a buyers’ market, but things are definitely leveling out,” said Scroggs.
Savannah ended the year with about 2,910 active listings, equating to seven-and-a-half months worth of inventory, a slight increase year over year.
The higher inventory in Savannah has had a moderating effect on prices, according to area realtors, but is not out of the norm for this time of year.
“I don’t think it’s time to pop the champagne, but I think we’re absolutely on solid footing,” said Vickie Linscott, a realtor with Keller Williams Coastal Area Partners.
Linscott noted that one of the more encouraging signs was that homes were no longer languishing on the market.
In fact, average time for a home on the market shrank from 115 days in 2012 to 68 in 2013, a 40 percent drop.
Linscott said homeowners who’ve been holding onto their homes for the last year or two may decide to hit the market in 2014 if they see the economy recovering. Buyers, meanwhile, still are taking their time.
“I’m still working with buyers who haven’t caught the urgency bug,” said Linscott, who said she believes 2014 will be the last year buyers can get access to attractive mortgage rates. “You can only have artificially depressed mortgage rates for so long.”
Other challenges the real estate community faces in 2014 are the potential increase in flood insurance premiums and keeping the mortgage interest rate deduction from the chopping block on Capitol Hill.
Even if consumer confidence hasn’t fully returned to pre-recession levels, Realtor confidence seems to be.
Scroggs said the Savannah Area Realtors added 200 agents to their organization this year for a total of 1,400 members, a sign of optimism among the real estate community. The organization lost about 1,000 members during the economic downturn.
“Many people getting back on board got out during the recession,” said Scroggs, who’s also a Realtor at Southbridge Greater Savannah Realty.
For her, 2014 is already off to a good start: “We’re 10 days in, and I’ve already written six contracts, personally.”
LOCAL HOME SALES SNAPSHOT
The Savannah-area housing market (Chatham, Bryan and Effingham counties) ended 2013 on solid footing. A look at the local residential market, including single-family homes, modulars, mobile homes, townhomes and condominiums:
DEC. 2012 …. DEC. 2013
Number of homes sold … 380 … 413
Number of months of inventory … 6.35 … 7.65
MEDIAN HOME SALE PRICES
2007 ... $179,900
2008 ... $169,905
2009 ... $168,900
2010 ... $159,751
2011 ... $152,900
2012 ... $161,000
2013 ... $168,842
Source: Savannah Multi-List Corp.