Delaware Ohio Real Estate: January 1-7

The first week of 2007 started off more like the first week of Spring than the first week of the new year. Of course, unseasonably warm weather has buyers coming out of the woodwork — like our tulips are starting to come through the soil.

But the numbers to start the year are — as to be expected — very low. Only 13 deals were completed last week.

Inventory

Three-Month Average: 10 Months. There are a lot of ways to compute inventory on hand. A good way is to use a three-month average based on the past three months to give a baseline. In Delaware County there are currently 1,711 homes on the market and with a three-month average of just-under 169 homes being sold in the County, that equates to Delaware having 10 months worth of inventory.

Year Average: 7.9 Months. I have some issues with the three-month average, because you are not taking into account the ebb-and-flow nature of the real estate market — even in the best of years. I prefer a 12-month (or year) average which allows for the entire year’s worth of sales to give a more accurate statement of what home sales may happen.

Of course, when you are using a “point-in-time” number with a “historical” one it will always create controversy.

The Numbers

The 13 completed transactions is about what you’d expect and I wouldn’t expect to see that number change much next week — especially since Monday is basically a “holiday” for the majority of central Ohio.

The 34 withdrawn listings, I think has a lot to do with the notion that you want to “take your house off the market” in the winter. Why? I’m not sure, but everyone thinks it is “good” to let the market cool off and go on “fresh” (i.e. resetting the days on market).

Go Bucks!

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