As expected Summit County real estate sales saw very strong gains in March versus the Covid constrained sales of March 2020. The transaction count was up 95% year over year to 280 sales. Transaction dollars were up an even more impressive 127% to $226.3 million. What was a little surprising was the magnitude of the gain over the February 2021 period. Transaction volume in March was up 72 percent from the prior month. Dollar volume was up 70 percent. These are quite impressive numbers given that inventories were actually down during the period.
Year to date, transaction volume is up 45 percent to 571 sales. Dollar volume is up 59 percent to $489.1 million. We can only expect those gains to expand over the next several months as we continue to compare against COVID inhibited periods a year ago.
Average selling prices on the rise
The year to date average selling price (ASP) for single family properties rose modestly from February reaching $1,533,466. That figure is 22 percent ahead of a year ago and 20 percent above the full year 2020 number. The multi family ASP fell approximately $20,000 to $645,569 but still is running 11.4 percent ahead of the comparable 2020 period and 6.5 percent above the full 2020 year.
Sales mix continue to favor the higher end of the market. Sales under $700,000 accounted for 45.4 percent of total transactions slightly above the 44.2 percent year to date figure but well below the 52.3 percent figure of 2020 which itself was at historical lows.
Inventories tick upward
For the first time since June of 2020 inventories at the end of May saw a sequential gain rising from 132 in April to 142. Nevertheless the year over year comparisons remain decidedly negative. Single family listings in the county (67) are down 57.6 percent from April last year. Multi family properties for sale (75) are off 81.7%. With 142 listings, the the Summit County MLS now boasts 5.3 active brokers for every active listing.