Good news in the real estate market for December 2012 with closed sales increasing almost 25% over December 2011. This increase may be attributed to activity related to anticipated tax increases that many high end homeowners and investors were looking to avoid. Inventory is down about 20% year over year, which is good for those looking to sell, and contracts are up slightly at 6%.
Looking forward I have two concerns with market activity continuing in this direction. First, the increased sales activity of the 4th quarter may have borrowed sales from 2013. Second, with all the good news in housing, many sellers who have been waiting on the sidelines for the market to improve may rush to get their houses on the market this spring. This rush would cause inventory to spike and put more pressure on pricing. Even though we have had significant sales activity this year, prices in most of our market are flat or still declining. Adding more inventory would make it difficult to see any significant increase.
If you are looking to sell this year consider putting it on the market now to maximize your return on your investment.
