Sales Gains Moderate in May

Summit County real estate activity continued its seasonal climb in May but year over year gains were more moderate. Dollar volume for the month rose 10.8 percent from April to $126.6 million. That was a 10 percent increase from the year ago period, a gain that was well below the 31 percent year over year increase we had seen in the first four months of the year.
Transaction volume also rose sequentially reaching 197 sales versus 189 in April. That figure, however was flat with May of 2016. Transaction volume in the first four months had been averaging a 15 percent gain.
The year-to-date (YTD) increases for dollar and transaction volume now stand at 25 percent and 11 percent respectively.
From a price point standpoint, the high end of the market is smoking. YTD sales in the $2.5-$3.0 million range have tripled to 9 from only 3 sales by this time last year. Those in the $2-2.5 million range are up 140 percent from 5 to 12 and sales from $1-2 million have more than doubled to 102. Most other price points have seen moderate increases although the very low end, below $300,000, was down 28 percent primarily due to the lack of inventory. The largest volume of sales year-to-date is in the $300,000-$400,000 range with 112 transactions, followed by the $400,000-500,000 range with 90 sales.
The strong gains at the high end have moved average selling prices higher. The YTD average selling price of a single family home in the county now stands at $1,141,154, up 22% from this time last year though little changed from April. The multi-family ASP is up 16% from a year ago at $463,956. That figure is up about $6,000 from the prior month.
The modest sequential increase in sales volume did allow inventories to build somewhat. At the end of June there were 565 active listings in the county including 293 single family homes and 272 multi-family properties. That is up about 80 percent from the low we saw last January. The market is still tight, however, as half the homes that sold in May were under contract in 9 days or less. If you are looking to buy you best get on my automated MLS updates and be ready to move quickly!