Blog courtesy of the Missoula Organization of Realtors.
The Missoula Organization of REALTORS® (MOR) would like to start out by welcoming its new leaders and bids farewell to those who are moving on. Leadership is our opportunity to raise the bar for both our personal business and the profession as a whole. For example, Diane Beck, the previous author of this article and our 2011 President made it her goal to increase our community presence and reach out to those in need in our public schools. She deserves a special thank you for all of the work she accomplished during 2011.
Jennifer Taylor of Prudential Montana is the new 2012 MOR President. Jennifer along with the MOR Board of Directors is looking forward to the opportunity to share the knowledge and experience with you. She believes an informed consumer truly is the best asset to any transaction.
First off, MOR would like review the numbers from 2011. However, it is important to first address the headlines that the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) over-estimated its national statistics by as much as 14% since 2007. How can this happen? NAR gets their sales data from local Multiple Listing Services like MOR. In order to account for sales that take place outside of the MLS (For Sale By Owner, etc) they made an adjustment that got out of whack. The error was partially due to math and partially due to the fact that fewer sales have taken place without representation by a real estate professional.
During MOR’s December Board of Director’s meeting, we discussed this issue because we felt it was important for consumers to understand where the information they see from us comes from. When MOR provides you with sales data and median price information, the numbers are provided directly from the MLS with no adjustments, additions or deletions. Each month we update our statistics at MissoulaRealEstate.com under Market Trends, and annually provide a report using the same numbers.
Missoula Urban Area – 2011
Year | # of Sales | Median Price | Avg Days on Market
2011 | 773 | $205,500 | 127
2010 | 830 | $201,240 | 122
Missoula County – 2011
Year | # of Sales | Median Price | Avg Days on Market
2011 | 989 | $205,000 | 138
2010 | 1017 | $202,500 | 131
Missoula saw a very interesting occurrence in 2011; the number of sales in the Urban Area dropped by almost 7% but the median price increased. How can that be? In the beginning of 2010 the Federal Government extended a tax credit to qualifying buyers, mostly in the first-time buyer range. Since many first-time buyers are looking in lower price points, it artificially drove the median price of homes sold down. 2011 is the first year since 2009 that no tax credit existed, so it can be argued that we’re beginning to see our new normal.
For more detailed information, please check out the Missoula Organization of Realtor’s website.