Still very little movement in the PA condo market

3 current pending sales, 22 units for sale in downtown PA-- it's anyone's guess as to why the condo market is stuck while the rest of the single family PA market has begun to move but here is my guess: Condo owners, for the most part, don't have the equity that many single fam owners have in their homes and, thus, CAN'T drop their units to where they need to be. My advice to condo owners: "If you don't have to sell right now, take your unit off the market. It isn't going to sell at the price you want right now and all you are doing is clogging up inventory. Wait until 2010......"

Looking at closed sale activity for 2009

It's May 19th, though we'd take a look at the closed condo sales in North PA. Since 1/1/09 we have had 8 closed sales (normally, would have 2 and a half times that number). Take a look at the closed sales:

$1,330,000

$1,200,000

$1,200,000

$1,160,000

$665,000

$635,000

$692,000

$608,000

If you have  a working knowledge of the downtown PA condo market you don't even need to see the addresses to know where those sales occurred. It's interesting that we haven't had even ONE sale in the 800,000-900,000 range. That range covers almost every 30 something year old building in downtown PA. And there are a lot of those.......

Two new listings this week

I saw the 2/2 at the Weatherly today ($1,349,000) and the new listing on Bryant (2/2.5, $895,000). The unit at the Weatherly is the typical spilt master suite floor plan they have there. It's a ground floor unit and most people prefer units above ground floor (although not me, I like being able to walk from your unit straight on to the street). I think it will appeal to some but the most recent comp is $1,330,000 (1/09) and that one was in pristine condition and it was on the 2nd floor).
The one on Bryant is ok, it's got a nice outside patio and the bedrooms are large--kitchen has been remodeled. But I think the list price is too high....
We also saw some new construction in north PA this week. The house on Parkinson is nice but the owner/builder/listing agent is being unrealistic with his list price--$1,000 a sq/ft isn't happening anymore....

New Listing at The Weatherly

There is a new 2/2 on the first level at the Weatherly, 1544 sq feet, listed for $1,349,000 that will tour for the brokers tomorrow. The last comp in that building was Jan for $1,330,000. Looking forward to seeing this one, I love the units in that building....

Another closed sale at HIGH STREET

The 3/2, 1440 sq feet closed yesterday at $1,160,000. It was originally listed at $1,295,000. It is important to note that a non-MLS agent represented the buyer so the sales price probably reflects a sale that did not pay commission to the buyers agent. Subtract about 30K and you would get the sale price had the agent been paid (therefore a closed sale would have been about $1,130,000 instead of the reported $1,160,000). They got 805 a sq foot for that unit, not bad at all considering this market (previous sale a month earlier sold at 738 a sq ft).......

Let's look at "Average Days on Market"...

Many of you remember the "good 'ol days" where we could list a condo and it would sell in a week with multiple offers. Hmmmm. We are in a different time to say the least.

Currently, we have 13 condo's on the market in downtown PA (not a big number at all) and they have collectively been on the market for 693 days. That's an average of 54 days each and that number is lower than it should be since I used two new listings that just came on that likely will start to see their DOM number increase, too.

Personally, I believe that single family home owners in our area are pricing their houses better than condo owners in the area are pricing their condos. We are seeing movement in the single family home market, we are not seeing it in the condo market. Condo sellers need to stop hoping things will get better and start pricing their units at today's market (or take their unit off the market).

For a rough estimate, we are between 20 and 30% off last Spring's sales. For a more definitive opinion of value of your unit, please contact me directly........

Looking at another downtown sale

360 Everett 4C closed this week. It is a 2/2 1600 sq ft, remodeled, contemporary--nice building once you get inside but the exterior can be a little rough for some people. It sold for $1,395,000 last November. It came back on the market a few months later for the same list price, they dropped it to $1,295,000 and it finally sold this week for $1,200,000--- it's important to remember that last Nov we were already seeing a decline in sales price. Anyway, a new comp for what it's worth........