Windermere has released a second edition of Moving from For Sale to Sold, a study of what it takes to get a home sold in today's buyer-friendly market. The latest release of March 2011 market sales is representative of what we have been experiencing since late 2010: homes that are priced well can sell in a matter of days and at or near asking price while homes that are overpriced can languish for months and sell well below original asking price. Below you will find the press release along with a link to the complete report. As always, let me know what you think!
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Looking at the sold properties, there are three messages. Each message is told with one of the tables on the sheet titled, Moving From for Sale to Sold.
The first message is that original list price is very important. There are two markets – those properties that sell without a price drop and those with price changes. It is about a 40/60 percent split. Listings without price drops were on the market for a median of 9 days and sold for 100% of original list price. Those with price drops were on the market for 144 days and sold for 84% of original list price. While the original list price is important, it is also acknowledged that pricing a home in today’s market is extremely difficult.
The second message is something every Broker knows and the second table provides the statistics to prove it. The longer a house is on the market, the less the selling price is as a percentage of the list price.
The third message is that price changes should be considered every 30 days. Over two thirds of the property that sold were at the list price for less than 30 days at the time of sale. That percentage increases to 84% in 60 days or less. Only 9% of the sold properties were at the list price for over 90 days.
