November 29, 2006
Home Sales – Can the RTD get it right?????
Well, Carol Hazard is at it again with her article today on October sales. (Yeah, I finally found a way to link to RTD articles. It takes some work, but it can be done.) Here’s the text to an e-mail I sent Carol asking where she gets her numbers from:
"In your latest screed, you state "sales of new and existing homes here fell 17.9 percent in October compared with the same month a year ago." According to the statistics I can access, there where 1,366 sales in October 06 compared with 1,444 in October 05. That is a difference of 78 less sales this year or a 5.4% decrease."
I’ll let you know what answer I get, so stay tuned. Any local market slowdown we are having has been media driven. For the year, the total units sold in the Richmond area are off about 3.5 % from the all time record year of 2005. This is hardly newsworthy or deserving the sensational headlines the RTD uses.
Eric said,
November 30, 2006 @ 9:25 am
Brick, What would you say about market right now? I live out in Brandermill and it seems we have a lot of houses on the market at this time and none seem to be moving. Many have been up since September. But my take on this is that traditionally – isn’t that normal? Don’t most people buy and sell from spring through summer? And those that sell Oct – Feb tend to have to wait longer?
brick said,
November 30, 2006 @ 9:38 am
Eric – Any softness we have seen in the market has been purely media driven. Since Summer, there has been a drumbeat of negative reporting on the Richmond market. None of the good – best inventory levels in years, relaxed environment to make a decision, pricing remaining firm, etc. Yes, the days on market have increased, but I compare this market now with what we had in the mid 90′s and we, the Realtors, thought that was a good market. And yes, part of the slowdown is seasonal. Thanks for your omments.
Brick’s Blog » V for Vindication…..RTD’s Most Recent Homes Sales Report said,
December 5, 2006 @ 12:39 pm
[...] Well, I ain’t exactly Churchill, but I feel some vindication. Last week, I questioned and challenged Carol Hazard’s report in the RTD that Richmond area sales were off some 17 % from October 2005 to October 2006. Although, I never received an response to my e-mail to Ms. Hazard, she does report today "(t)he Richmond area reports the average price, which was $266,402 in October, up from $241,298 a year ago. The number of sales here fell 6 percent from a year ago." While I told her the actual percentage drop was 5.4%, I certainly like 6% better than her first report of 17%. For full article click here. [...]
Jimmy Farmer said,
January 17, 2007 @ 1:46 pm
Go Brick Go.
You are my source for reading material.
CHILIMAN