A Third of Montclair Homes Sold At or Above List Price This Spring & Summer
Selling a home today can sometimes feel like going on a job interview, then waiting by the phone for that all important call back. In Montclair, many home sellers were prepared to ace their interview, knowing they were going to come up against picky buyers in an uncertain market. They de-cluttered, staged, made minor repairs, priced to entice and remained flexible and ready to employ different sales strategies they created with their REALTORS®.
It may not have been easy to get to the closing table—many deals aren’t today—but something is working. The second and third quarters helped Montclair achieve 193 residential home sales and 14 multi-family home sales.
The second quarter (April – June) achieved the highest average sales price but the third quarter (July – September) achieved the highest median sales price. The first quarter average sales price was $640,235. The average number is the total of all the properties divided by the number of properties. The median is the midpoint of all the properties.
Montclair 2011 Residential Home Sales
Quarterly Comparison
|
QUARTER |
TOTAL SOLD |
AVG LIST PRICE |
MEDIAN LIST PRICE |
AVG SALES PRICE |
MEDIAN SALES PRICE |
AVG SP/LP% |
MED SP/LP% |
AVG DOM |
MED DOM |
|
4Q10(Oct-Dec) |
62 |
$658,874 |
$564,450 |
$636,013 |
$548,500 |
96.6% |
97.2% |
81 |
56 |
|
1Q (Jan-Mar) |
45 |
$677,511 |
$529,000 |
$640,235 |
$526,000 |
95.6% |
96.5% |
76 |
68 |
|
2Q(Apr-Jun) |
78 |
$687,579 |
$609,000 |
$678,184 |
$603,500 |
98.5% |
98.3% |
76 |
39 |
|
3Q(Jul-Sept) |
115 |
$687,681 |
$650,000 |
$665,701 |
$656,000 |
97.0% |
97.2% |
79 |
53 |
SP/LP% (sales price / list price) = property sold XX% of list price; DOM = Days on Market for final listing period; MED = median; AVG = average.
In the larger scheme of things Montclair is very competitive, too. Compared to four other towns in the area—as you see in the chart below—Montclair is first in the quantity of homes sold and second in the average sales price of the homes sold. Between April – September, 47 homes sold over asking price, 20 at asking price and 22 within $10,000 of asking price. For those that sold over asking price, the spread was anywhere from $500 to $405,000 over the final list price. Yes, that’s not a typo, 490 Park Street in Upper Montclair listed for $1,199,000 and traded in 20 days for $2,404,000 in April
Town-by-Town Sales Comparison
April – September 2011
|
TOWN |
TOTAL SOLD |
AVG SALES PRICE |
SP/LP % |
|
124 |
$488,125 |
96% |
|
|
Millburn/Short Hills |
112 |
$1,119,102 |
98.2% |
|
Montclair |
193 |
$670,746 |
97.5% |
|
76 |
$539,271 |
94.2% |
|
|
146 |
$353,836 |
95.9% |
The below year-to-year comparison gives you a snapshot of the changes in the overall price point since 2006, the last time there was a tax revaluation. Montclair topped in 2008 with an average sales price of $740,717 and hit bottom in 2009 with an average sales price of $589,271. It’s good to see 2010 increased 5.9% over 2009 and so far the 2011 numbers look just as promising with the first 9 months producing an average sales price of $664,977 and 238 residential sales. The homes that have gone under contract so far in October show sales piling up further.
Montclair Residential Home Sales
Year-to-Year Comparison
|
YEAR-TO-YEAR |
TOTAL SOLD |
AVG LIST PRICE |
AVG SALES PRICE |
SP/LP% |
DOM |
|
2010 |
317 |
$640,045 |
$625,957 |
98.1% |
73 |
|
2009 |
309 |
$603,542 |
$589,271 |
97.5% |
79 |
|
2008 |
348 |
$740,885 |
$740,717 |
99.6% |
65 |
|
2007 |
403 |
$669,475 |
$711,880 |
101.4% |
61 |
|
2006 |
448 |
$697,351 |
$714,037 |
102.8% |
48 |
After a while all of these numbers can begin to blur as you figure out what this could mean for your home in your particular, personal situation. It’s always good to go over these numbers and other information with your REALTOR® or with us because this only looks at the overall real estate story for the town, enabling you to see the trends. This does not reflect the nuances things like condition, location and oil tanks – oh, did I say location -- can play in the price of a home.
All of this data has been compiled using information from the Garden State Multiple Listing Service (GSMLS) as of October 20, 2011 for the list of homes and October 25, 2011 for the summary numbers; if changes were made in GSMLS after these dates, they are not reflected here. The MLS is used by Real Estate agents selling properties in Essex County and other areas. This data does not include private sales or new construction not listed through a Real Estate agent. Towne Realty Group, LLC. Independently Owned and Operated. Beverly and Robert Meaux, Salespersons, Towne Realty Group.
Pooky
5:45 pm on Wednesday, October 26, 2011
This is a very misleading report as many of these homes had ORIGINAL list prices much higher than the list price at the time the offer was accepted (which is what's been used for the purposes of these statistics, with no mention of how much the price had already been reduced).
I'd be much more interested to see the OLP on these reports. Then we'd see the sorts of reductions that were made before the price became attractive enough for buyers to make an offer. I can think of a lot of homes on this list, even in great locations, whose original list price was much higher than list price being used here. This report really should reflect the sold price as a percentage of OLP.
And the house on Park Street is an anomaly, certainly not typical of the current real estate market in Montclair. Just take a look at all the other beautiful homes languishing on the market around or just under that price point. That's a very special home that someone really really wanted.
Beverly Meaux
10:05 am on Thursday, October 27, 2011
Good morning Nosey Bird. Thank you for your comment.
Bob and I look at it as a positive sign when, in this economic climate, buyers are willing to spend over the current list price AND the bank is willing to appraise over the current list price. In an up market or a down market, buyers determine market value after a seller sets a price that’s able to generate interest for them to care enough to see it.
We did do the original list price (OLP) calculation you are referring to in our Maplewood report that is hotlinked above, but just did not do it here. We should have, though, because it’s a fantastic story to us so we’re glad you asked the question.
If we take this perspective in this report, 41, out of the 47 we stated were sold over asking price, did not have a change from the OLP. Out of the 41 it looks like 5 were on the market earlier in the year and 1 was listed previously in 2010. There were a few that had listed previously in 2009 or earlier but we’re disregarding those because we can’t hold it against a seller who tried to sell his home a couple a years ago or so. There were also 14, out of the 20 we stated that sold at asking price, which were at the OLP, too. Of these 14, it appears one was on the market and then withdrawn last year. Out of the 22 traded within $10,000 of asking price 11 were traded from the OLP.
Beverly Meaux
10:06 am on Thursday, October 27, 2011
So if we take OLP into effect, Montclair had 28% -- just over a quarter homes -- sell at or over list price, instead of 35%. This is just a 7% difference from what we stated above and amongst this 28% the average days on market (DOM) appears to be cut by more than half compared to the average DOM for the 6 months. For us, this is still a pretty good story in today's market.
Park Street is an anomaly, of course, but it is one that also says a buyer was willing to tell a seller in this economic environment that their home was worth $405,000 more than what the seller thought; again, a good statement to be made. There were some homes where buyers went in the range of $20,000, $40,000, and $60,000 or so over price. There’s a good chance each one of those buyers said to themselves, ‘this is a very special home that I really, really want.’ Now these overall reports can never show how much of the sales price went to credits or seller concessions, because that’s not recorded publicly.
Beverly Meaux
10:06 am on Thursday, October 27, 2011
Our public reports do not reflect the sold price as a percentage of OLP because that’s not what’s normally used locally or nationally. In the same vein, many public reports normally discuss the average sales price instead of the median sales price like the National Association of Realtors® does. When we sit with a homeowner or a home buyer in private however we do review OLP, average sales price, median sales price, taxes and many other things to have a robust discussion, but we can’t do it all here in a blog. We are working on a separate blog reflecting average and median, though.
We're more than happy to send you the client reports on all of the homes sold so you can review the details at your leisure or feel free to give us a call.
Have a great day.
susan monaghan
7:46 pm on Saturday, October 29, 2011
So how do these figures compare with assessments (for taxes). Assessed values should be included in all above charts
Bob Meaux
3:17 pm on Sunday, October 30, 2011
Unless an assessment is recent we normally do not include it in our analysis because they do not represent the current value of the home. With that being said, Homes in Montclair during the first 3 qtrs of 2011 sold at 86% of assessed value. Hope that helps.
Bob Meaux
3:28 pm on Sunday, October 30, 2011
To clarify the above number is based on a average of assessment and sales price.