Happy November!!! And just like that, the gathering season begins. With October and Halloween behind us, the focus becomes about Thanksgiving and the December holidays. As we mentioned last month, October tends to be the busiest month of the fall selling season. So just how active was the month of October? Like September, the data shows it was pretty busy! In October 2018 Units Sold increased (+6%, 18 vs. 17) as did Units Listed (+141%, 41 vs. 17) compared to October 2017. While the Average Sale Price (-13%, $886,457 vs. $1,014,506) and Days on Market (-43%, 58 vs. 101) both decreased over the same period last year.
Why the difference in the Average Sale Price year-over-year? Like previous months, the composition of Units Sold has changed. Of the 18 units sold in October 2018, 15 were below $1M, 2 were between $1M-$2M, and only 1 was above $2M ($2.25M). Compared to October 2017, when 8 units sold below $1M, 9 units sold between $1M-$2M, and zero units sold above $2M. In simpler terms, 83% of October 2018 sales were under $1M versus 47% over the same period last year. This change in sales distribution contributed to the decrease in the Average Sale Price as evidenced by the decrease in the Median Sale Price (-33%, $744,113 vs. $1,108,000).
How does Princeton look year-to-date? Units Sold (-12%, 227 vs. 258), Average Sale Price (-9%, $971,618 vs. $1,066,809), and Days on Market (-3%, 62 vs. 64) are all down compared to last year. Units Listed is now flat to last year (0%, 394 vs. 394). In summary, fewer units have sold at a slightly faster rate and we have now caught up with the number of Units Listed. The story behind the Average Sale Price (ASP) has stayed the same – composition of sales and fewer high-end sales. Year-to-date there have been only 8 over $2M sales in the MLS (as you may recall there were 4, that we know of, outside the MLS) compared to 18 over $2M sales in the MLS over the same time in 2017. Also important to note, year-to-date the minimum sale price is $275,000 vs. $305,000 and the maximum sale price is $2,800,000 versus $4,950,000 during the same period last year.
So what is happening now? There are currently 145 Active Units on the market between $115,000 and $12,000,000 – of which 6 are currently under contract. Additionally, there are 22 Pending Units between $275,000 and $2,795,000 and 2 new listings have been introduced thus far in November.
With October behind us, we are super curious to see what November will bring. Speaking of curious, if you are thinking about buying or selling your home or want to learn more about Princeton area real estate market statistics, feel free to email us!
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