October sees drop in Summit County real estate sales.

October presented the weakest month so far this year for year over year Summit County real estate sales. Total dollar volume dropped by 5 percent versus October of 2015 and at $149.7 million was 14 percent below the prior month. Transaction volume was down 7 percent year over year with 263 sales. That compares to 297 sales in September. The seasonal sequential month declines are not surprising, though the magnitude of the drops and the negative comparisons to last year are disappointing. For the full year to date, dollar sales are now down 2 percent at $1.1 billion and transaction volume was down the same percentage with 2,015 sales.
A price point analysis does not show any major changes in the mix of sales in October. Sales were slightly ahead in the $800,000 to $1.5 million range while the $300,00 to $500,000 range modestly under performed.
The year-to-date average selling price for a single family home has fallen to $919,120 after peaking at $941,735 back in July. Nevertheless, the number stands 7 percent ahead of this time last year and 6 percent above the full year 2015 average sales price. For multi-family units the average selling price was $405,776. While not the highest figure for the year, that number has been trending upward for the last three months and now stands 2 percent ahead of both the year ago and year end figure.
Interestingly our market isn’t far off the national trend. Across the US, sales in October were down 1% year over year while average selling prices were up 8.3% according to RE/MAX’s National Housing Report (let me know if you would like to receive a monthly copy). Inventories continue to take the blunt of the blame for lower sales and higher prices. Nation wide inventories have been down for 13 consecutive months and in our market inventories are off 31% from a year ago.