Good News All Around

We just finished our annual meeting at the New Haven Country Club. It's a beautiful day, and it was a great time to reflect on the past year and celebrate the recovering market! We sign many signs that real estate sales are improving; in fact, our first quarter numbers show a 34% increase in sales throughout our region, and a 15% increase in listings. We are proud to say that we made money last year, although we are looking forward to having it be a little easier this year. Consumers seem to be coming out of hibernation, and activity is definitely up.

Awards were given to our 20-year associates, and to our Chairman's Circle of top producers. Even in a challenging environment, the best agents always find a way to be successful, and we honored their accomplishments. Longevity is also important to us as a company, since we are a family business in its second generation.

We reviewed the many tools that our company has for marketing and sales. We have a first-class website, and are endeavoring to improve individual web pages. Realtor.com is a great resource, and we pay for enhanced service, so we emphasized those advantages, along with real estate tours (now uploaded to YouTube as well). Our agents also have access to a wonderful listing presentation service called Toolkit, as well as Xpress Docs, an online provider of marketing materials.

By focusing on these basic offerings, we have enhanced the service we provide for our clients. We are well-positioned to catch the recovery wave!

National Statistics

In trying to make sense of national statistics on real estate sales, I have been reading a number of different sources. One I received today was from a friend with a real estate company in Madison, Wisconsin. He sent a link to the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac numbers, which include all resales with conforming loans, and are divided by state and by quarter. These are different from the Case-Shiller numbers, which only cover 20 metropolitan areas. The numbers for CT in the Fannie Mae index indicate that prices fell most sharply last year, and that overall prices have fallen about 15% in total. The numbers for the latest quarter indicate that prices have levelled off for now.

These figures agree pretty well with what the New York Times reported this morning. The article in the Times said that prices in the past month actually crept up from the month before. That could be because of the mix of properties sold, but it does indicate that some people who were on the fence have jumped back into the market.

The third source, the Commercial Record, shows town by town variations in what has sold this year versus last. Again, it shows increased activity lately, although the first quarter was pretty dismal.

Whichever measurement we use, it seems to corroborate that we have at least and at last hit bottom, and are looking forward to heading up!