At Thursday’s Brownwood Area Chamber of Commerce’s 2010 Economic Summit, Ray Tipton, Marketing Manager spoke to the sold out crowd about Brownwood’s local real estate conditions.
Having spoken at last year’s Economic Summit, Tipton was able to confirm his predictions of what the coming year would bring. Just as expected, overall 2009 was a hard year for most real estate agents and brokers. Luckily Brownwood fared relatively well in comparison to some areas nationwide and state wide.
During his presentation, Tipton used a bar graph to show a 6 year (2004-2009) comparison of number of properties sold vs. number of properties listed in Brownwood. There were 266 residential properties listed in the Brownwood Board of Realtors’ Multiple Listing Service (MLS). Of these listings, 172 had actually sold during that time. The graph showed 2007 as the year that the Brownwood residential property market actually “peaked”, having 247 sales out of a listing inventory of 407 homes.
The area market being relatively stable was proven by looking at the average sales price from 2007-2008. This value was said to be approximately $87,000 over the three year period with only a slight (5.76%) drop during 2009 to $82,137. Days on market have increased slightly over the last three years to 125 in 2009
In comparison, lake front property had shorter Days on Market (DOM) of 110 compared to the last few years; however an average price plummeted from $255,871 to $186,250. Tipton explained this change in average sales price was not due to a loss in values, but a lower range of sales prices when averaged. He further explained that 2008 had several sales in the $400,000-$600,000 range, where 2009’s top lake front sale was only $365,000.
In summary, Tipton noted reasons for the market slow down. The first, Consumer Confidence: Many people come home from work and watch negative news on 24 hour cable news stations. The second, Lending Industry: Changes in requirements of buyer and criteria of loans. Third, Employment fears: Many have either lost their jobs, been laid off of work, or are worried about job stability. With those worries in mind, Tipton did present a few “bright spots”. These being the “First Time Home Buyer” tax credit program which stimulated the slow market, investors coming into the market as buyers of rental property, and local lending having more options to really work with buyers (such as the Rural Development programs of USDA).
Tipton’s closing remarks predict 2010 to continue to have a steady listing inventory, steady number of sales, and days on the market (DOM) to remain steady to slightly increased, and sales prices to remain stable.
To view the entire Power Point slide show, click here.
