February is typically a seasonally slow month. In six of the last 8 years, February has averaged a 20.2% decline from the prior month. This year generated the third exception to that trend in the last 9 years with both transaction and dollar volume showing gains, albeit modest ones.
Transaction volume this February at 126 sales was two deals ahead of January but up 18.9% from February of the prior year. Dollar volume for the month reached $67 million, up modestly from $63.2 million in January but up 33% from a year ago. The solid YOY February gains offset a weaker January leading to year-to-dates gains of 11% and 7% in dollar and transaction volume respectively.
The average selling price (ASP) for a single family home so far this year stands at $848,954. That is modestly below the $855,925 for all of 2015 but about 4% ahead of the level a year ago. The multi-family ASP at $402,989 is up about $4,000 from all of last year but down $6,000 from a year ago. It is quite interesting that, with the tight inventories we are still experiencing, prices in general haven’t felt more upward pressure.
Mix wise, there were no particularly strong or weak areas when compared to last year or the prior month. Year to date under $500,000 was 59.3% of the sales versus 59.9% a year ago and sales over $1 million were 9.1% versus 9.4% in 2015