Summit market maintains double digit gains

The real estate market in Summit County remained robust in July with a 23% increase in transactions versus a year ago. With 155 transactions, it represented the most active July since 2007 which saw 301 sales. Dollar volume was also up a solid 9% to $69 million against a strong year ago number as July of 2012 had seen a gain of 77%.
For the first seven months of the year, transactions are up 23% and dollar volume has risen 17% to $416.3 million.
Price point analysis shows that the distribution of sales for the month was consistent with the first half of the year. The largest number of transactions (21.5%) occurred in the $200,000 to $300,000 range and 66.1% of all sales were under $500,000. July did benefit from some high end sales with 9 transactions over the million dollar price point including one at $3.8 million.
Year to date, average selling prices (ASPs) of single family properties are tracking in line with last year at $774,356 versus $764,455 for all of 2012. Average selling prices for multi-family properties have dipped about 4% to $339,882 while lot ASPS have ticked up modestly from $309,512 for all of last year to $311,640.
After peaking in 2010-2011, foreclosure activity continues to be on the decline. So far this year, there have been 91 Notice of Election & Demand (NED), the start of the foreclosure process, and 72 Trustee Deeds issued—the end of the process. In 2012, there were a total of 251 NEDs and 165 properties that were sold at auction. At the peak, we had 367 NEDs and 227 sales. While never a major part of our market, the elimination of this distressed inventory should help overall pricing.