Home sales down across the metro.
Even though they fell 6 percent from February 2015 to February 2016, retailers remain optimistic. More than 1,200 deals closed this year, according to the Oklahoma City Metropolitan Association of Realtors.
The average price fell less than 1 percent, to $176,300.
Realtor Joe Pryor said that in 2014 and 2015 there were not enough homes to meet buyer demand, and many properties got multiple offers, The Journal Record’s Molly Fleming reports:
Pryor said he deals often with homes worth $750,000 or higher, and has seen them sit on the market a little longer than normal. For all home types, the average time on the market has decreased from 69 days to 63 days. He said in the past, pricing wasn’t an issue when it came to homes more than $750,000 in price. “Pricing is now an object all the way through,” he said.
But there was a 10 percent boost in inventory in November 2015 that is helping to correct the market. Heather Davis of the Oklahoma Association of Realtors said that the market has yet to reflect the loss of more than 1,300 energy industry jobs lately.
OAR President Chuck Harris told Fleming he’s seen a small increase in foreclosures, but not as much as one might expect:
From January 2015 to January 2016, Oklahoma had a 74-percent increase in foreclosures, according to the latest RealtyTrac industry data. In Oklahoma City alone, the annual change was 143 percent. He said he is cautiously optimistic, especially with an 18-percent increase in pending listings. “I think people are kind of concerned,” he said. “They’re keeping their eye on the economy. They don’t want to get into a bad situation.”
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