Spotlight on Florence, AL Real Estate Market

My goal is to keep you, the consumer, updated on the real estate market trends in Florence, AL and the Shoals area. Each month I will be spotlighting the previous month's sales history and giving you a comparison with the prior year.

September did show a slight decrease in the number of homes sold. Properties are staying on the market a little longer, some buyers are finding it harder to be approved for a mortgage and the media has everyone thinking that the sky is going to fall! However, don't believe everything you hear! The Shoals area market overall is holding steady.

To get started, Aug. and Sept. 2008 statistics are shown below. The best comparisons are the same months by year (example: compare Aug. 2007 with Aug. 2008). Comparing consecutive months may be misleading due to variations depending on the time of year, current events, etc.

Florence, AL Home Sales (including the Shoals area)
Aug. & Sept. 2008

	Aug. 2007	Aug. 2008	Sept. 2007	Sept. 2008
Monthly Sales	149	144	149	127
Avg. List Price	$136,591	$137,678	$141,822	$127,639
Avg. Sale Price	$129,716	$130,885	$134,747	$121,778
% Diff. (Sale/List)	94.97%	95.07%	95.01%	95.41%
Current Inventory	1041	1172	1029	1187
Months of Inv.	6.99	8.14	6.91	9.35

All information taken from the Shoals Area MLS as of Friday, Oct. 3, 2008.
Information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.

In the Times Daily on Sept. 28, 2008, an article titled "Shoals Avoiding Crisis" quoted Joan Baltes, an economics professor at Northwest Shoals Community College, as saying:

"In the state of Alabama, we're not comparatively in that economic decline." She goes on to say, "Our housing market never got overinflated like in other sections of the United States. What goes up, must come down." Baltes gives credit to local real estate agents for not trying to manipulate the local market and keeping homes reasonably priced.

Come back next month for a look at October's home sales!

Deidre Berry
Email: deidre@HomesOfTheShoals.com
Web: http://HomesOfTheShoals.com

Florence AL Homes for Sale