|
This year, the total dollar volume for home sales in Ada County will pass the $3 BILLION mark for the first time! Total dollar volume has been increasing since 2009, with the previous peak at $2.7 billion in 2006. Nearly 10,000 homes have sold this year to date, up 2.6% from last year. Although the number of existing home sales is nearly identical to last year’s numbers, the total dollar volume for sold properties in this category increased by 9.2%. This increase in dollar volume, despite an unchanged number of sales, is indicative of the higher prices being spurred on by buyer competition over limited inventory. The number of existing homes for sale is down 13.2% from last year. Inventory for new construction, however, is up 1% from 2016, and home sales in this category are up 10.9%. Builder production is helping to ease the squeeze of our low inventory situation. But, even with this help, prices on new homes are also continuing to increase due to buyer demand and higher costs for land, materials, and labor.
|
|
|
Here is a historic view of dollar volumes sold each year since 2005:
|
|
|
|
Although fewer buyers are looking in the winter months, there are usually even fewer listings. This is great for sellers because they can sell with less competition from other listings while still having a good chance of getting a strong offer from buyers competing for what few homes are available. If you want to know more about the today’s market conditions, get an idea of what your home is currently worth, or discuss options for buying in the winter, please contact us! We would love to meet with you in person or chat on the phone!
|
|
|
Below are the current Ada County market statistics for November 2017 compared to November 2016:
- Closed sales – 839 (down o.7%)
- Median Sales Price (including new construction) - $269,900 (up 10.2%)
- Days on the Market - 38 (down 17.4%)
- Pending Transactions - 1,383 (up 18.4%)
- Inventory: 1,623 (down 6.2%)
- Months of Supply – 1.8 (down 10%)
We also wanted to show how the number of months supply of inventory fluctuates based on the price range. The current month’s supply condition in each price range is as follows:
- $159,999 or less: 0.4 months.
- $160,000 - 199,999: 0.4 months
- $200,000 - $249,499: 0.9 months
- $250,000 - $299,999: 2.1 months
- $300,000 - 399,999: 2.4 months
- $400,000 - 499,999: 2.5 months
- $500,000 - $699,999: 7.3 months
- $700,000 - $999,999: 7.3 months
If you’re interested in knowing more about the current state of the market, check out these informative November 2017 Boise Regional Realtors Market Reports for both Ada and Canyon counties.
|
|
|
Time Machine...Christmas Lights
|
|
|
As I drive around Boise this most wonderful time of the year, I am impressed by the number of beautiful and complicated Christmas light displays. This caused me to wonder why we put up Christmas lights in the first place. The first semblance of Christmas lights appeared in Germany in the 17th century, as people began decorating the traditional Christmas tree with candles, which they attached to the branches with pins or melted wax. In addition, European Christians would display candles in their windows to let passerbys know they were welcome to come in and worship with them during the Christmas season.
As you can imagine, attaching burning candles to fire’s favorite fuel was not a good idea. But, people couldn’t part with the beauty of a lit tree. So, ideas for safer options were sought. In 1880, Thomas Edison created the first electric Christmas lights. He displayed them outside his laboratory in Menlo Park, California, so passengers on the nearby railway could enjoy them each evening. This was the first outside lights display, separate from decorating the Christmas tree. Two years later, under the supervision of Edison, Edward Johnson invented the first string of Christmas lights, made out of 80 small electric light bulbs.
In 1890, the string of lights was mass-produced and began being sold in department stores. The White House sported Christmas lights for the first time in 1895. But, it remained a tradition for the wealthy, as electric lights cost $12 per single strand ($300 in today’s currency.) In 1925, NOMA Electric Corp was formed and became the largest Christmas light manufacturer in the world. Demand for lights was high enough that the company was even able to survive the Great Depression with their sales. In the 1940s and 1950s, NOMA and other competitors were able to produce lights for less money, allowing for more and more people to afford decorating their homes and trees. By the 1960s, putting Christmas lights on houses became a fully fledged American tradition.
For a century, incandescent bulbs were used until the creation of the more energy efficient LED lights that we have today. Christmas lights, no matter the source, have always served to brighten the dark days of December, display beauty, bring cheer, and convey the warmth and joy of the Christmas season.
If you’re looking to see some elaborate light displays in our area this year, HERE is a list of some of the most noteworthy attractions for your Christmas light tour!
|
|
|
|
WHAT IS THE COST OF WAITING UNTIL NEXT YEAR TO BUY?
|
|
|
Over the course of the last 12 months, home prices have appreciated by 7.0% nationwide. Over the same amount of time, interest rates have remained historically low which has allowed many buyers to enter the market.
As a seller, you will likely be most concerned about ‘short-term price’ – where home values are headed over the next six months. As a buyer, however, you must not be concerned about price, but instead about the ‘long-term cost’ of the home.
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), Freddie Mac, and Fannie Mae all project that mortgage interest rates will increase by this time next year. According to CoreLogic’s most recent Home Price Index Report, home prices will appreciate by 4.7% over the next 12 months.
What Does This Mean as a Buyer?
If home prices appreciate by 4.7% over the next twelve months as predicted by CoreLogic, here is a simple demonstration of the impact that an increase in interest rate would have on the mortgage payment of a home selling for approximately $250,000 today:
|
|
Bottom Line
If buying a home is in your plan for 2018, doing it sooner rather than later could save you thousands of dollars over the terms of your loan.
Content from Keeping Current Matters
|
|
|
|
Contemplations by Katie
|
|
|
One of my favorite things during the holiday season is opening my mailbox to find Christmas cards from friends and family. It is a joy to tear away the envelope and look upon the faces of people I love—many of whom I haven’t seen in months or sometimes years. After all the cards have arrived, we put together a collage of the pictures to adorn the cabinet above our coffee pot, giving us daily opportunity throughout the year to see and be reminded to pray for the people the Lord has so graciously placed in our lives! Above is a picture of the collage that has been on our cabinet throughout 2017. We are already enjoying collecting the new pictures for our 2018 collage=-)
In addition to Christmas card pictures, we also love the accompanying letters and updates. I especially love letters where the writer shares the good stories along with the bad—including the raw truth of both the joys and the challenges faced over the year.
Because of the great pleasure we get in receiving the pictures and stories from others, we began writing a Christmas letter of our own in 2009 and have continued writing them ever since. Although they take a great deal of time to write and may be much longer than anyone really cares to read, we hope they are enjoyed by others as much as we enjoy the ones we receive. We also hope our transparency in both the joys and challenges of our year help to deepen relationships and encourage hearts. If you are interested in reading our letter from this year, click on this link: Miller Christmas Card 2017. Also, if TripleCord isn’t already on your Christmas card mailing list, we would love to be added. It is a joy for us to be able to stay connected with you through your cards and letters.
|
|
|
|
|
|
