A slow December for real estate.

The numbers are in: December 2007 was the slowest month for DC area real estate transactions in 10 years. According to MRIS, 3,349 homes went under contract in December 2007 in DC, suburban Maryland counties, and suburban Virginia counties. This is down 35% from December 2006 levels and is down 51% from December 2004 levels. It's the lowest number of real estate transactions in the area since December 1997. The chart to the left shows the area's monthly transaction volume

This number is even more significant given the growth rate that the metro area has experienced over the last 10 years - our housing stock is much larger now. If you scale the comparison against areawide growth in home sales, Dec '07 was slower than Dec '97.

Seasonally, December is the slowest month of the year for real estate. But fear among homebuyers, concerns about home price declines, a high rate of foreclosures, and more stringent mortgage lending criteria have exacerbated the situation.

Ugly, ugly housing news.

The National Association of Realtors released some ugly, ugly figures today. Nationwide, the pace of home sales this year is 10.7% below 2006 levels. Wall Street got pounded on the news, with the Dow down about 3% so far today. Check out the story on ABC News.

This is bad news, but please understand the local context -- every area is different. Close in to DC (Arlington, McLean, etc.) the market is pretty healthy and balanced. The further west or south you go (Woodbridge, Manassas, Leesburg, etc.) the market really weakens. Out there, some people are trying to sell homes against 200+ competing listings in their same neighborhood.

If you're selling with us, keep a few things in mind. First, make sure your home is priced right. It can't just be comparable to the other listings -- it has to represent superior value to the competing listings. If there are three buyers interested in a neighborhood with 100 listings, you're not going to get much traffic unless your property represents one of the best half-dozen or so deals in the area. You also need to make sure the home shows well. Also, patience is required -- prepare for a sales period of several months.

At Spot, we hope our savings helps stack the deck in our sellers' favor. If our seller clients are saving several percentage points on their listings, maybe they can pass some of that on to the purchaser through a lower list price. Better priced homes equals faster sales.