The May 2008 Memphis real estate sales numbers have been released by the Memphis Area Association of REALTORS®, and activity is still a little slow compared to 2007. Through the end of May year to date sales are at 5,698, compared to 7,059 last year – a 19.3% drop, and median prices are down from 2007’s $137,000 to 119,000 (13.1% drop) as of the end of May.

There is no break down on foreclosures and bank sales, which have tended to sell at lower than market values. There were 12,641 total listings which indicates a slight month to month increase, which is typical for this time of the year. Click here to download the report.

Absorption

I have mentioned absorption rates in this blog before, but a couple of interesting points on that topic:

On homes of all types for sale in the $140,000-159,900 range, there are 794 listings. There have been 395 sales –
395
x12
4740 /5= 948 anualized or 79 sales per month

Inventory =794 794/79= 10 month supply in that price range. As you may recall from our earlier lessons, under 6 months supply is a sellers’ market, over 6 months is a buyers’ market. When you take away the hype, and the doom and gloom in the media, fundamentally, it IS a good time to buy a home.

One more scenario I thought was interesting:

Through May there were 14 sales over $1,000,000; there were 179 listings

Let’s do the math
14
x12
168 /5 = 33.6/year or 2.8 sales per month annualized

179(listings)/2.8(sales/month)= 63 months or 5 years and 3 months supply. Draw your own conclusions on that one.