Supply of homes on market falls to nearly 7-year low

The number of single-family homes listed for sale last month in the Colorado Springs area fell to its lowest point in nearly seven years, while sales rose and prices fell — continuing recent trends in the local housing market.

Home listings in November plummeted to 3,667 — the fewest in any month since 3,557 in January 2005, according to a report released Monday by the Pikes Peak Association of Realtors.

Some homeowners who don’t think they can get the price they want aren’t bothering to list their properties, which has contributed to the decline in the supply of homes for sale, said Harry Salzman, owner of Salzman Real Estate Services Ltd. in Colorado Springs.

“If they take a look at proper comparables (similar homes) that sold, and they can swallow what their market value really is, they’ll put their house on the market,” Salzman said of today’s sellers. But, if homeowners must sell at a particular price for financial reasons, yet know they’re unlikely to get it, “they’re not listing,” he said.

Some real estate agents, meanwhile, have taken note of the market and are declining to list a home if an owner is putting an unrealistic asking price on the property, he said.

The number of homes falling into foreclosure has declined over the last several months, meaning the supply of distressed properties being listed for sale also has declined, Salzman said. Also, a seasonal decline in homebuying — many people look to purchase homes in the summer, not around the holiday season — has prompted some sellers to hold off listing their homes over the past few months.

Meanwhile, the number of homes sold totaled 645 in November, a 19 percent jump over the same month last year, according to Realtors Association figures. Year-over-year sales now have increased for five straight months, although the latest figures are being compared against sales in the second half of 2010, when sales had slowed after the end of the federal government’s tax credit program for homebuyers.

Through the first 11 months of this year, home sales totaled 7,808, a 3.4 percent increase over the same period in 2010.

Most home sales recorded by the Realtors Association took place in El Paso and Teller counties, and the majority of the sales were existing homes. All of the sales involved real estate agents; sales handled by individual owners aren’t included in the association’s numbers.

While the pace of home sales has improved statistically, prices continue to be another story. The median price of homes that were sold in November was $185,000, a 6.6 percent decline from the same month last year. The average price of homes sold was $218,230, down 6.5 percent from November 2010. Both median and average prices have decreased over each of the past nine months.

The median is the mid-point of all prices and is considered a more accurate measurement of prices than the average, which can swing up or down based on the sale of a few very expensive or inexpensive properties.

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Contact Rich Laden: 636-0228 Twitter @richladen

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