Lagging metrics in the monthly reports showing a purge of old inventory while new listings to market are flying off the shelves.
Again, this month I am frustrated by looking at the monthly numbers for closed transactions vs. my weekly report which is based on pending transactions. The numbers in the monthly reports lag behind actual pending activity by 30-45 days and our market significantly shifted in the last 2 weeks of February. It's so important to look at the weekly reports over the monthly reports.
February saw a slower start to the month with Super Bowl and President's Day Weekend back-to-back, however the weeknd following saw a major uptick in showings and pending transactions. The market continues to pick up into spring. What's nice to see is that some of the normalcy of 2013-2019 is returning where home prices continue to rise monthly and multiple offers are not as intense as they were from 2020-2022. Last month, of the closed transactions for February 28.0% of detached homes and 14.3% of attached homes on the market sold for over asking price on average of 2.8% over asking price. This in large part lead to a 4.1% increase in our detached single family average sold price to $724,543 and in attached homes a 4.2% month over month increase in average sold price to $466,176. The market continues to have hot spots and cooler spots, this map shows months of inventory by zip code. Red areas are hotter and green or blue areas are cooler than the average of 1.45 months of inventory. Inner land locked suburbs are feeling more competitive than their urban or outer ring suburb counterparts.
Back to my rant about monthly numbers vs. the weekly numbers. Median days in MLS for the month of February for closed transactions was 26 days, while when we look at pending transactions for the week of March 1st through 7th, median days in MLS was 7. The market really heated up and entered its compression phase in weekend 3 of February where we were putting more properties under contract than new listings entering the market. This compression phase will last until the end of April when inventory tends to rise and in May where buyers become distracted with Cinco de Mayo, Mother's Day, graduations and Memorial Day. This is truly prime listing season for sellers who want to be under contract quickly and in increasing cases with multiple offers.
