North country home sales for Grafton County NH (Littleton, Bethlehem, Franconia) and the St Johnsbury area in Vermont are down 20% from 2007. Prices are down about the same amount. According to the Smith Peabody Real Estate Buyers Guide (a freeby that turns up in your mail box now and then) 638 homes were sold in 2007 and only 514 in 2008, a 19.4% drop. Average price was $230,597 in 2007 and dropped to $182,107 for 2008, a 20% drop. That's bad, but not as bad as it might be. It's clearly a good year to buy, or at least better than last year.
The drop in home prices means anyone who bought last year with 20% down is underwater (or at least decks awash). Anyone who bought with less downpayment is deep underwater. Refinancing is not an option when you are underwater. Selling underwater means the owner takes a bath.
Surprisingly, the length of time a home is on the market hasn't changed much. It takes about 6 months to sell a house, a figure that actually dropped 6 days.
No comments:
Post a Comment