Lee County April home sales increase 25 percent from April 2017
More than a quarter of all Lee County residential sales in April were from new construction. (iStock)
Click here to view or print the entire monthly report.
Sales: According to the Lee County Association of Realtors Multiple Listing Service, Lee County residential sales totaled 196 units during April, an increase of 39 units or 24.8 percent from the same month in 2017. Existing single-family homes accounted for 58 percent of all residential sales for the month, while condos were 16 percent and new construction represented the remaining 26 percent. Two more resources to review: Quarterly Report and Annual Report.
Click here for all of the Alabama Center for Real Estate’s Lee County residential data.
Forecast: April sales in Lee County were 17 units or 9.5 percent above ACRE’s monthly forecast. ACRE projected 179 closed transactions for the month, while there were 196 actual closed sales. ACRE forecasts a total of 2,035 sales for the area during 2018. There were 1,867 actual sales in Lee County during 2017.
Supply: The Lee County housing inventory in April was 516 units, a decrease of 6.5 percent from April 2017 and a 64.6 percent decrease from the 10-year inventory peak in 2010 (1,456 units). April inventory in Lee County decreased 1.7 percent from the previous month.
Demand: April residential sales decreased 2.5 percent from March. This direction is inconsistent with historical data indicating that April sales on average (2013-17) increase 9.3 percent from March. Homes selling in April averaged 70 days on the market, an increase of 27.3 percent from last year. The five-year days-on-the-market (DOM) average for Lee County during April is 145 days.
Seeking balance: The inventory for sale divided by the current monthly sales volume equals the number of months of supply. The market is considered to be in balance at approximately 6 months. The inventory-to-sales ratio in April was 2.6 months of housing supply, remaining constant with 2.6 months of supply in March and down from 3.5 months of supply one year ago.
Pricing: The Lee County median sales price during April was $240,500, up 18.6 percent from one year ago. The April median sales price increased 11.9 percent from the previous month. This is inconsistent with historical data (2013-17) indicating that the April median sales price on average decreases from the March price by 2.5 percent. Pricing can fluctuate from month to month as the sample size of data (closed transactions) is subject to seasonal buying patterns. ACRE recommends contacting a local real estate professional to discuss the latest pricing trends.
Industry perspective: Statewide, residential real estate sales continued to show growth during the first quarter of 2018 as they grew 2.4 percent from the first quarter of 2017. Low inventory levels, however, played a large role in driving prices upward. During the first quarter of the year, the statewide median sales price increased 7.1 percent from one year ago. Although good news for sellers, this price growth, combined with rising interest rates, could lead to affordability issues for buyers in today’s markets.
Click here to generate more graphs from the Lee County April Housing Report, including Total Sales, Average Sales Price, Days on the Market, Total Inventory and Months of Supply.
The Lee County Residential Monthly Report is developed in conjunction with the Lee County Association of Realtors.
