As I mentioned in my previous post on the West Chester real estate market, the last three months have been very turbulent.  There is a great deal of uncertainty regarding the availability of mortgages for buyers and in the financial markets in general.  I can say with absolute certainty however,  that if you are thinking about buying a home, whether it is new construction or an existing home, the opportunities are terrific with regard to the home prices and there is no question about the ability to get a mortgage, the money is out there!

Today we will take a look at how the Liberty Township, Oh real estate market fared in the last three months of 2008.  The West Chester and Liberty Township markets are very connected and to many folks would be considered one and the same.  They share the same school district (Lakota Schools) and are geographically adjacent.   However breaking them down a little gives us better detail of just what has been going on.

To read part one of this real estate market update click here

With regard to sales, in 2007 135 units were sold vs. 88 units in 2008 in Liberty Township.  This represents a decrease of 34.81%.  This is quite obviously a huge decrease in sales.  A little further look into these numbers finds that in 2007, new construction accounted for 44 of the 135 sales (32.59%).  In 2008 just 15 of the 88 sales (17.05%) were new construction.  New construction sales were way down and this is definitely an indication of the scaling back that home builders have done.  The amount of market (spec) homes that are available for sale is very small and has been for some time now.

 

2007 Units	2008 Units	+ or –
135	88	-34.81%

The average sale price for the last three months of 2008 was down 12.72% compared to the same period in 2007.  As you can see in the table below, the average sale price in the last three months of 2008 was $232,831 compared to $266,751 in 2007.  With the new construction sales taken out of the numbers the average sale price would be down 5.25% in the last three months of 2008 when compared to 2007.  The impact new construction has on these numbers is significant due to the fact that typically the average sale price of new construcion homes is much higher which can skew the overall numbers, especially in a market like Liberty Township, OH which has a large presence of new construction.

For there to be a stabilization of home prices and then at some point a return of appreciation, we will need to see a smaller supply of homes available for sale.  In many of the price ranges there remains a significant oversupply.  We will take a look at the supply of homes for sale next.  Be sure to check back!

 

2007 Avg Sale Price	2008 Avg Sale Price	+ or –
$266,751	$232,831	-12.72%

 

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