Cullman July home sales up from June

The median sales price for homes in Cullman County increased slightly in the past year. (iStock)
Click here to view or print the entire monthly report compliments of the ACRE Corporate Cabinet.
Sales: According to the Cullman MLS, Cullman County area residential sales totaled 66 units during July, a 21 percent decrease from the same period a year earlier. Year-to-date sales are down 1 percent from the same period in 2015. Two more resources to review: Quarterly Report and Annual Report.

Home sales in Cullman during July were 10 percent higher than the previous month.
Demand: July residential sales increased 10 percent from the prior month. This direction is consistent with historical data indicating that July sales on average (2011-15) increase from June by 14 percent. Days on market until a listing sold was 123 days,18.5 percent faster than the same period last year (151 days).
For all of Cullman’s real estate data, click here.
Forecast: July sales were four units or 5 percent below the Alabama Center for Real Estate’s monthly forecast. ACRE’s year-to-date sales forecast through July projected 408 closed transactions, while the actual sales were 423, a favorable difference of 3.6 percent.
Supply: Cullman County area housing inventory totaled 602 units, which is 0.5 percent more than supply in July 2015. The inventory-to-sales ratio in July was 9.1 months of housing supply. Restated, at the July sales pace, it would take 9.1 months to absorb the current inventory for sale. This is up 28 percent from July 2015 (7.1 months of supply), but it’s 61.5 percent lower than the 2010 peak (23.7 months of supply). The market equilibrium (balance between supply and demand) for July is approximately 6 months, so continued improvement in this area would be welcome news.
Pricing: The Cullman County median sales price in July was $137,450, an increase of 0.4 percent from July 2015 ($136,900). The median sales price was 4.2 percent above the prior month. This month’s price direction is consistent with historical data (2011-15) reflecting that the July median sales price on average increases from June by 11 percent. Pricing can fluctuate from month to month as the sample size of data (closed transactions) is subject to seasonal buying patterns. ACRE recommends consulting a local real estate professional.
Industry perspective: “Financial volatility resulting from Brexit has created some uncertainty among investors as yields on government bonds have dropped sharply, Treasury yield curves have flattened over the past month, and the Chinese Yuan has depreciated to a six-year low against the dollar,” said Fannie Mae Chief Economist Doug Duncan. “In addition, our view on interest rates continues to be ‘low for long’ as we believe a Fed decision to raise interest rates will likely be on hold until June of 2017. Brexit’s economic impact on the U.S. will likely be limited, especially from a trade perspective, and should be a near-term positive for the housing and mortgage market as falling mortgage rates have prompted new refinance demand.” For the full report, click here.
Click here to generate more graphs from the Cullman July Housing Report, including Total Sales, Average Sales Price, Days on the Market, Total Inventory and Months of Supply.
The Cullman County Residential Monthly Report is developed in conjunction with the Cullman Association of Realtors to better serve Cullman-area consumers.