OKC area home sales peek out from winter hibernation

The 8,279 houses listed for sale at the end of January, the Oklahoma City-area market had an estimated 6.7-months inventory, according to The Oklahoman’s calculations using statistics from the Oklahoma City Metro Association of Realtors.

BY RICHARD MIZE

Oklahoman

Leave a comment

Metro-area Realtors appeared to put the depths of winter 2009 and 2010 into the history books last month when they handled more home sales than during either of the previous two Januarys.

Multimedia

OKC area home sales peek out from winter hibernation

There was no boom, but the 848 sales last month represented a 20.1 percent increase over 706 sales in January 2010, and a 14.4 percent increased compared with 741 sales in January 2009.

With 8,279 houses listed for sale at the end of January, the market faced an inventory to last an estimated 6.7 months if sales continued at the previous 12-month average of 1,222 and no other houses went for sale, according to The Oklahoman’s calculations using statistics from the Oklahoma City Metro Association of Realtors.

January’s sales — and the removal of houses from the market for any other reason — combined to shave the inventory down from 6.9 months at the end of the year.

The uptick in sales compared to the previous two Januarys and slight reduction in inventory came despite concerns over planned purchases derailed by tight lending standards and higher down-payment requirements, and what some Realtors say is a persistent disconnect between sellers’ expectations and would-be buyers’ willingness to pay.

The average sales price of $149,643 last month was up 7.7 percent compared with January 2010. The median price — considered a better gauge of the market because one-half of homes sold for more and one-half sold for less — was $126,000 last month, an increase of 5 percent from the January before.

“There is some good news and some promise of things to come,” said Steve Mann, president of the Oklahoma City Metro Association of Realtors and a broker associate with Paradigm AdvantEdge Real Estate. “We remain cautiously optimistic.

“We approach spring with a great deal of optimism and look forward to buyers remaining in the market. We are fortunate that our inventory remains in check, interest rates, though easing upward, are still at all-time lows and stats indicate fewer homeowners are delinquent on their payments — all good news for the housing industry.”

For their part, homebuilders started the year busy, said Jim Schuff, co-owner of Moore-based Vesta Homes and president of the Central Oklahoma Home Builders Association.

Builders in Oklahoma City, Edmond, Midwest City, Moore and Norman took out permits to build 260 houses last month, 12 percent more than in January 2010. Permits were up 13.4 percent in Oklahoma City, 44.4 percent in Edmond and 76.4 percent in Norman, and down 44.4 percent in Midwest City and 16.6 percent in Moore.

“I’m loving it. My phone’s burning up,” Schuff said Friday, acknowledging that home shoppers hit the streets heavily after two weeks of heavy snow had everyone cooped up and the housing marketplace almost shut down.

Lenders are not making it easy to buy or build a house, conceded Jack Killingsworth, Schuff’s sales manager.

“Your lenders have tightened up a lot. Used to, if you had a 690 or 700 (credit) score, you were in good shape,” Killingsworth said, but now anything lower than the high 700s is considered risky — not necessarily too risky for a loan, but lacking the creditworthiness to enjoy the best interest rates.

Schuff said a local banker told him at a recent forum that lenders aren’t making as many construction loans lately because fewer builders are applying for them.

Schuff said he wondered whether something similar is going on with consumers: They aren’t trying to get mortgages because they figure that with tighter underwriting and higher down-payment requirement they couldn’t get a loan, so why ding their credit further with a lender’s credit inquiry, for nothing?

<!– –>
<!– –>