Barrington Market Time Sharply Improves: Prudential Visions Realty

Home buyers attacked the Barrington-area real estate market last month as homes went under contract quickly with sales-to-list-price ratios improving for sellers. “We examine the data behind local real estate on a continual basis so we can fine tune strategies for both buyers and sellers,” said Jen Ortman, broker/owner for Prudential Visions Realty in Barrington. Here are the April 2013 highlights:

CLOSED SALES: In the last 12 months, 614 properties have sold in the Barrington area, sharply up by 37.7 percent compared to the previous 12 months when sales stood at 446. The largest increase was in the sale of foreclosures. Ten of these distressed properties sold in April alone, clearing this inventory from the marketplace, and continuing to remove the downward price pressure caused by this category of properties.

UNDER CONTRACT: The exciting news came in the form of under contract properties in the Barrington area. The month closed with 122 properties waiting to close, up from 54 the previous April. There were double-digit gains in all sales types: traditional sales up 33.9 percent, foreclosures up 26.5 percent and short sales up 79.6 percent.

MARKET TIME:  Especially good news was found here as April was the 3rd straight month of declines in the number of days a property is on the market in the Barrington area before it closes. Properties closing in April were on the market an average of 154 days -- about 5 months -- down 44 percent from April 2012 when market time stood at 276 days. The trend is especially positive: January 2013, 240 days, February 211, March 204. 

HOMES FOR SALE: While there was an uptick in listed properties this spring, the number of available homes for sale in the Barrington area still is at a record low. The number of homes for sale fell 25.7 percent year over year to 423, down from 569 the previous April.

INVENTORY:  Home inventory continues to slide, now standing for the Barrington area at 7.6 months. This is a decline from March's inventory of 8.5 months, and down a whopping 45 percent from April 2012 when inventory stood at 14 months. While new homes are being listed, there is not enough supply to get ahead of robust home sales and contracts that hit during April. 

INVENTORY BY PRICE POINT: The sale of homes in the price range below $549,899 has depleted the market to the extent that when new homes are listed, oftentimes buyers and their Realtors line up to walk through, and multiple offers are becoming commonplace. With only 4.4 months of inventory available, this is a seller’s market for homes in this price range. For more information on handling multiple offers, Prudential Visions has prepared a blog, "Multiple Offers: What's a Buyer to do?"

LIST-TO-CLOSE RATIO: In April Barrington-area sellers achieved 91 percent of their original list price, a solid increase from the 86.2 percent ratio in April 2012.  Examining detached single family homes that have come on the market since March 1, 12 sold between their list date and April 30. These averaged 12 days on the market and sellers garnered 98 percent of list price. The median list was $500,000 and the median sale price was $488,000. “Sellers should especially take note of these facts: buyers are out there waiting for new properties. Price it right from the start and there will be lots of action, sometimes even multiple offers that go over list price!” recommended Laurene Cichon, managing broker for Prudential Visions’ Barrington office.

MEDIAN SALE PRICE: While some properties have had lots of buyer interest, there are homes still suffering from the historic level of distressed real estate that has been on the market in the last three years. Median sale price is up from March's level of $355,000 to $415,000 in April. Cichon said, “We at Prudential Visions still do not see firm positive price trends. When we are convinced that price appreciation has come to the Barrington-area real estate market, our clients will be the first to know.”

Prudential Visions real estate agents prepare special market reports for their clients, focusing on type of home, school district or neighborhood, among other variables.  The firm is located at 303 East Main Street in the heart of Barrington.

For more information, contact Katie Howard, marketing director at (630) 294-2900, khowardinbox@gmail.com, or Jen Ortman, broker/owner at (847) 660-0864, jen@jenortman.com.

Submitted by Prudential Visions.