Milwaukee Condo & Real Estate Scene

Why Home Sellers Should Give December A Chance

During my morning analysis of the real estate market in Milwaukee County, I noticed that many sellers decided to let their listing contracts expire as of midnight on November 30. This tells me that sellers aren't confident that a market exists during the month of December.

Does the real estate market shut down in December?

I reviewed Metro Multiple Listing Service data covering 2008, 2009, 2010, and year-to-date 2011. This analysis doesn't indicate those deals that closed in a particular month. I'm more concerned about those months when offers were accepted. In other words, are buyers less likely to write offers in December than any other month during the year?

The 2008 and 2009 years indicated "normal" activity. I wasn't too surprised to see that we experienced slower activity during the winter months. Our peak months includes May (2008) and June (2009). In 2010, we encouraged first-time home buyers to act earlier in the year; which explains why our market peaked in April.

In every case, December was our slowest month of the year. However, 455 buyers were successful in negotiating an acceptable offer in December 2007, 475 in December 2008 (5.68% of 2008 Sales), 453 in December 2009 (4.95% of 2009 Sales), and 447 in December 2010 (5.89% of 2010 Sales).

Below, please find a chart showing Pending Activity for all of Milwaukee County between the years 2008 and November 2011.

For those sellers who decided to give the market a rest last night, why wouldn't you try to attract a buyer in December?





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Labels: Real Estate

posted by David Ray @ 11:52 AM