Real Estate Sales Increase 14% Over This Time A Year Ago

Birmingham Metro Area residential sales in September improve 14% over last year
Sales: According to the Greater Alabama MLS, the Birmingham metro area* residential sales totaled 1,166 units in September, an improvement of 14.3 percent or 146 units from the same period last year. Maintaining sales above the thousand unit per month threshold is a symbolic benchmark that Birmingham sales routinely eclipsed prior to the recession and its return on a consistent basis signals that the market continues to gradually recover. September represents the seventh consecutive month that the market has achieved this benchmark.
Forecast: September sales results were 6.4 percent or 70 units above of our monthly forecast. The YTD sales forecast through September projected 9,978 closed transactions while the actual sales were 9,750 units, representing a variance of 2.3 percent.
Birmingham Metro Area residential sales improved 14% from last September. YTD sales are up 6%. Inventory has declined 48% from the September 2007 peak. Infograph courtesy of ACRE. All rights reserved.Alabama Center for Real Estate (ACRE) 
Supply: The Birmingham area housing inventory in September was 7,099 units, a decrease of 8.8 percent from September 2013 and 47.6 percent from the month of September peak in 2007 (13,560 units).
August inventory in the Birmingham metro area also decreased 4.0 percent from the prior month. This direction is consistent with seasonal patterns & historical data indicating that September inventory on average (09-13) decreases from the month of August by 1.8 percent.
According to the Greater Alabama MLS, the Birmingham metro area market, there was 6.1 months of housing supply in September versus 7.6 months of supply in September 2013, representing a decrease of 20.7 percent. The realignment is even more impressive when compared to its September peak of 14.7 months in 2010 and the 5-year average of 10.5 months from 2009-2013.
The "months of housing supply" is a simple calculation - homes listed (supply) divided by homes sold (demand). In general, seven months is considered the point of equilibrium during the month of September. Birmingham Metro Area is one of the most balanced markets in Alabama during the month of August.
Demand: September residential sales decreased 1.8 percent from the prior month. This direction is consistent with historical data indicating that September sales, on average (09-13), decrease from the month of August by 8.5 percent. As a general rule of thumb associated with seasonal buying patterns, sales traditional peak in June or July and begin to gradually decline as the market enters the Fall/Winter period.
Existing single family home sales accounted for 84 percent (up from 83% in Sept'13) of total sales while 13 percent (same as Sept'13) were new home sales and 3 percent (down from 3% in Sept'13) were condo buyers.
Pricing: The median sales price in September was $175,000, an increase of 6.1 percent from last September ($165,000). The September median price did slip 1.4 percent when compared to the prior month. This direction contrast with historical data ('09-'13) indicating that the September median sales price traditionally increases from the month of August by .3 percent. For the year through September, the median price has risen 1.1 percent when compared to the same period in 2013.

Recovery Stretches to Ninth Consecutive Month; 89 Markets Reaching Full Recovery

A recently released market index shows significant improvement in the top 100 markets this month. Results show that 60 of the top 200 midsize markets have fully recovered their loss in home prices due to the housing bubble burst. These advancements bring the total markets with full recovery to 89 (30 percent), up two from the previous month’s 87. While the number of top 100 markets achieving a full recovery increased by one from the previous month to 29, there is also noticeable improvement in the number of midsize markets seeing full recovery.
The December Local Market Index, recently released by Homes.com, is a price performance summary of repeat sales of U.S. properties. Utilizing home pricing data, the Index shows year-over-year gains for single-family properties in all 300 top U.S. Markets.
All of the 200 midsize local markets continued to show gains year-over-year for the single-family index. On a monthly basis, Medford, OR saw the largest gain, with a 1.56 index point jump. For the seventh consecutive month, Anchorage, Alaska and Hilo, Hawaii continue to be the top two performing markets on a year-over-year basis. Anchorage takes the top spot, increasing by 18 percent, followed by Hilo with a more than 15 percent increase. The West continues to dominate the midsize markets, with 9 out of the top 10 markets increasing on an annual basis. On a monthly basis, the top 10 midsize markets are largely split between the South, West, and Midwest regions.
The latest Homes.com Local Market Index reports the following:
• Year-over-year increases in all top 300 markets.
• Monthly increases in 82 of the top 100 markets and in 167 of the 200 midsized markets.
• Los Angeles, California is the top gaining market on a year-over-year basis, with a 27.48 index point or 16.74 percent increase.
• Honolulu, Hawaii is the number two gaining market on a year-over-year basis, with a 26.21 index point gain for the top 100.
• California markets [San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, Calif.; San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, Calif.; Bakersfield-Delano, Calif.] are the remaining 3 in the top 5. Year-over-year, they increased 25.89, 24.97, and 20.65 index points, respectively for the top 100.
Highlights from the Homes.com Rebound Report for the top 300 markets show:
• 89 markets have made a 100 percent rebound, indicating a complete recovery. This is an increase from 87 markets in the previous reporting period.
• The most recent fully recovered markets are Greensboro-High Point, NC (103.4 percent) and Greeley, CO (102.86 percent).
• The percentage of recovered midsize markets is slightly ahead of the top 100 markets. Out of the 89 markets achieving more than 100 percent rebound this month, 60 or 30 percent are midsize and 29 or 29 percent are top 100.
• Dominating the top 100 rebound markets, the South, with 15, includes markets with energy-based economies in Texas and Oklahoma.
“Despite the holiday season and the early winter storms in most of the nation, the number of top 100 markets to reach or surpass their peak prices at the height of the boom in 2007 increased to 29 markets, according to December’s data,” says Brock MacLean, executive vice president of Homes.com. “With the largest year-over-year housing market price increases in seven years, the U.S. housing market is in a great position to continue making steady gains in 2014.”