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.
