Bob Shands

Sales of existing homes in Johnson County in February rose to 435 units from 330 in January 2008. Does this mean the end of the Buyers' market is in sight? Hardly. While this 31.8% month over month increase is impressive, it still represents a 5.7% decrease from February 2007. Additionally, 928 new listings of existing homes came onto the market in February. The average sales price of an existing home fell 4.9% vs. February '07 from $230,882 to $219,630. (Source: Heartland Multiple Listing Service).

Nationally, the sale of existing homes in February rose 2.9% from January but were down 23.8% from February '07. The average sales price declined 8.2% year over year from $213,500 to $195,900. (Source: National Association of REALTORS).

The good news is that Johnson County is faring better than the Metro area as a whole and better than many areas of the country. However, selling a home is still a difficult task. The reasons for this are numerous. The subprime mortgage crisis is one factor. There are many others including buyer expectations and an overall lack of buyers. Future posts will deal with these issues.