Health & Fitness
The Most Important Year-End Stat in Darien Real Estate
The most important statistic in Darien Real Estate is a List/Sell Price ratio.
It's that time of year again when everything from politics to fashion gets recapped. We'll soon see 2012's most important events,photographs,people, films, stocks and kitty videos trotted out before us.
Similarly, Realtors and brokerages will soon regale us with statistics that invariably point the Darien real estate market in the "up" position. (I happen to agree, this year.)
No one has seen the full year 2012 stats yet, but I have seen them as of November. I don't expect any significant variances in December, so I feel confident in reporting what we know so far—and its mostly good.
Find out what's happening in Darienwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The number of listings is about the same as last year but the unit sales are up to 256 versus 211 from the eleven months ending November 2011. The number of days it takes to sell a home is down and good too, of course.
But the most interesting statistic to me is what is known as the List/Sell ratio. Simply put, its the percentage of the listing price that a home actually sells for. For example, If I list my home for $2 million,and it sells for $1.8 million then the list-to-sale ratio is 90 percent.
Find out what's happening in Darienwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
As of November of this year, the Darien Sales/List Price ratio is nearly 95 percent!
To me this represents an important psychological change on the part the Darien home seller.
The mantra of all Realtors for the past several years has been PRICE, PRICE, PRICE!
Many homeowners however, have been unwilling or financially unable to face the reality of the recent real estate downturn. That resulted in lots of overpriced inventory and houses that came on and went off the market, unsold.
I believe a 95 percent ratio indicates that Darien sellers have indeed grasped the "new normal" as concerns the value of their property. They are now pricing their homes within reasonable negotiating limits and affording themselves the best opportunity to sell.
If you're planning to sell your home in 2013, you can be confident that the "comparable" sales from 2012 are darn close, or 95 percent "on the money."
Realtor Karen Brewer, whose services include a comparative market analysis of residential property, can be reached at 203-554-0951.
