Let’s look forward to future closings – how do the active, contingent, and pending listings stack up?

San Diego County All-Residential MLS listings:

Close to half of the closed sales between April 1st and September 30th were distressed sales, but now they make up only 12% of the active inventory! While we have become dependent on the distressed sales, they get snapped up quickly. No wonder it feels dry as a bone!

What about the detached-home listings in our North SD County Coastal region?

NSDCC Detached-Home MLS listings:

If you are looking for a “bank deal”, the NSDCC region looks like the Mohave Desert! The foreclosures and REO listings are really thinning out – look forward to next year being the battle between short-sales and regular equity sellers.

It is impressive how many regular sellers have been able to compete with the distressed sales – 84% of the closings in the last six months have been non-distrssed! Buyers want quality, and the distressed sales tend to be the inferior properties – the non-distressed sales averaged $389/sf, and distressed sales were $283/sf.

It looks like the 50/50 split of short sales vs. non-SS will likely prevail throughout the county for the next year or two, but it’s been quieter around NSDCC. Will more owners of over-encumbered quality properties decide to give up next year, especially if Congress only extends the debt-tax relief for 12 months? What if it doesn’t get extended?