August 2011 Louisville Home Sale numbers – Best in 4 years

Louisville Home Owners can slowly start to breath a collective sigh of relief! It’s very possible the downhill slide of falling Louisville home prices has hit bottom. It now appears Louisville Home Buyers are starting to jump off the fence and into a realtor’s car looking at homes (sure glad I tanked up with gas)!

You have to go back to August 2007 to see more homes sold in the month of August! For skeptics among you I’ve included the raw data for the past 4 years of August. That’s good news for Louisville homeowners who have their homes on the market or are planning to sell in the next year. The number of homes sold when compared to August 2010 was up 14 percent. The number of homes going under contract was up 17.5 percent compared the the year before..

Personally our Medley Sokoler Team set new records in July with 19 homes under contract and 21 under contract in August. We’re so busy we’re expanding our team and the office for 2012. We’re seeing a marked increase in buyers singing onto our websites looking at homes in Louisville and the surrounding area.

The bad news (come on you know there’s always bad news) is that the median price of a Louisville Home is down about $4,500 from a year ago. In fact we’re seeing the best looking homes with the lowest price sell. For sellers that means touching up everything from the paint to the mulch outside. Clean, crisp, de-cluttered (really 2-3 items on your kitchen countertops), and no visible repairs needed. Stray from that recipe and the buyer walks on to the next home.

For buyers, if prices have bottomed out now is the time to jump in. Interest rates are amazingly low hovering between 4.1 and 4.25 percent. The sellers see a winter ahead of them (admittedly a slower time for home sales) and they are more motivated than ever.

When the media starts reporting home sales are up (we’ll try to keep it from them a little longer but you know how they dig for facts and a story especially that Chris Otts at the Courier Journal) buyer activity may jump. If sellers see a glut of buyers viewing their homes they might hold out for a better price. I know we’re already packed this holiday weekend with buyers in the car. A good sign of things to come…we hope.

Have a safe Labor Day Weekend!

Bob Sokoler is a former Anchor/Reporter turned Louisville Realtor   7 years ago, and co-owner of The Medley Sokoler Team in Louisville Kentucky. You can learn more about Bob, his Team by clicking Louisville Real Estate.

August 2011

August 2010

August 2009

August 2008

August 2007