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With all the news and doom and gloom, everyone wants to ask me what the Sumter Real Estte market is really like.  First, remember all markets are local.  Statistics are used to describe the market and to make generalizations.  The problem with this is that one area can influence the market.  When the news speaks in generalizations, it can influence everyone for the good or bad. 

What really got me thinking about this was a blurb on the Today show.  I say blurb because 4 minutes is not long enough to cover a story like this.  It showed how the sales in the housing market are changing.  It really painted a picture of how the markets were down everywhere in the country except for New England.  I watched with interest and then decided to share it with fellow Realtors® at the office.  In the process of pulling up the video, I also received several other videos from MSNBC and CNBC.   I watched with great interest to see what these videos had to say about the housing market.  (Unfortunately, I can't locate the videos to link, but I will keep looking.)

Wow, what a difference.  The guests on the two other videos spoke of many issues driving the markets.  First and foremost, California and Florida have really influenced the national numbers.  We have all heard about the "wild" California market for years.  We all wished we could see that type of appreciation on our homes.  The mortgage companies do a large number of Jumbo loans in California and they have recently tightened down on their Jumbo loans therefore making it harder to receive credit.  Then there is Florida...  As a Realtor® and knowing many Realtors®, we have seen many transplants to Sumter, South Carolina and surrounding states by Floridians who want to get away from the hurricanes.  Also due to the hurricanes, homeowner's insurance has skyrocketed in coastal areas (SC included).  So in Florida, they are not only dealing with hurricanes, mortgage lending practices, but also insurance rates.  Anyone want to move to Florida?  I am sure I can find you an agent and a bargain!

The areas that are hardest hit by the recent markets are areas that have experienced LARGE double digit price increases over the past several years.  This means in addition to Florida and California, areas like Phoenix and Las Vegas are experiencing sales declines.  The good news for Sumter homeowners is that our prices, while increasing over the past few years, did not skyrocket with large double digit increases over the past few years.  What we are seeing now is more and more houses going on the market and not as many buyers.  This means there are more choice than ever for buyers and more competition for sellers. 

Stay tuned to my blog for more information and details....

So far in the Sumter, South Carolina Real Estate Market Blog Parts 1 and Part 2, we have covered that markets are local and though sales are down from 2006 levels and days on market have jumped, Sumter continues to see homes being sold.

But we know that we have gone from a sellers' market to a buyers' market.  So, how does that impact prices in the Sumter market?

First, lets' review a term we hear consistently when taking about home prices.  Median home prices means that half the homes sold were lower in price and the other half of the homes sold were higher in price.  This is commonly used due to economists using the term to describe income as well.

The median sale price for a home in Sumter has increased from 2004 through 2007. 

This means that buyers in the Sumter market are not spending less than in prior years.  They are spending more for homes.  But what is their money buying them?

Prices per square foot vary from neighborhood to neighborhood and from home to home based upon the features of the home and the age of the home.  Sumter is not seeing a large appreciation this year, but we are not seeing home prices declining rapidly either.  As pricing goes, Sumter has returned to a more normal market than was experienced in the prior few years. 

Most Realtors® will agree that they do not expect to see home prices in Sumter decline.  The market in Sumter remains strong.  There are many homes on the market, making competition high for the buyers that are there purchasing.  But we still have buyers out looking and making offers on homes. 

With interest rates still at historical lows, a large selection of homes available and financing available to qualified buyers, now is as good a time as any in the past three years to purchase a home.  With the current buyers' market, it is probably an even better time to purchase a home.        

(c) 2007 Kim Peasley-Parker,  All Rights Reserved

So what is happening in Sumter Real Estate?  First if you look at a summary of the units sold in Sumter County, the numbers are not all that bad for 2007. 

Through October 2007, 1312 units have sold through the MLS in Sumter County.  For 2006, this number was 1422 and for 2005 the number was 1332, the surprise is 2004 with 1080 units closed.  If you were not around in 2004, I can tell you about buying home then from personal experience.  If you saw a home you wanted, you needed to write a contract on it right away or forget about it.  Homes were not even staying on the market long enough to hit Realtor.com before having a contract! 

When you look at the units closed year to date for 2004 (1080) vs. 2007 (1312), we have sold more homes so far in 2007.  2007 Units sold YTD is still higher than the total units sold through December 2004 (1274).  This indicates that while the numbers are down YTD from 2005 and 2006, Sumter is still in a fairly strong market.  (Nationally, we are hearing that home sales are at 2002 levels, again this is a national average number.  Some areas are lower, some are the same, some are higher.)

So what is the difference in the market between 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007?  A shift from a sellers' market to a buyers' market.  I do not have access to the total number of homes that were on the market from prior years or the total homes on the market for 2007.  But all Realtors® agree, there are more homes on the market now than in prior years. 

I do have access to the average days on market (DOM).  In 2004, the average DOM was 122.  In 2005 and 2006 this number edged higher and jumped in 2007 to 143.1 days. 

Homes are staying on the market longer and buyers have more choices when they are looking for a home.

So to recap the first two posts in this series, we know that real estate markets are local and Sumter has shifted from a sellers' market to a buyers' market.  But what about price?  Stay tuned to my next blog to see what is happening to the prices in the Sumter Real Estate Market. 

Sumter, South Carolina Real Estate Market Blog Part 1

(c) 2007 Kim Peasley-Parker, Rights Reserved