Northampton County's real estate market is in the tank. February, for example, was the worst month on record for actual deed transfers since 1983, when nobody was using computers or cell phones. Things could only get better, right?Wrong.
Last July's deed transfers hit a thirty year low, the worst since 1981, when we were first blessed by all the cultural delights of MTV.
Northampton County's real estate market is depressed, having declined forty-six per cent over the past five years (2005-2009).
According to Northampton County's real estate records, there were 476 deeds transferred in July. That's a 13.1% drop over the same period in 2009. Worse, it's 41.5% below the average July over the past ten years. Also, 15 of the 476 deeds recorded, or 3.1%, are the result of mortgage foreclosures.
Here's the raw data over the last ten years: July 2010 - 476 deeds; July 2009 - 548 Deeds; July 2008 - 623 Deeds; July 2007 - 812 Deeds; July 2006 - 834 Deeds; July 2005 - 946 Deeds; July 2004 - 949 Deeds; July 2003 - 1047 Deeds; July 2002 - 999 Deeds; July 2001 - 901 Deeds.
Who is buying all of those townhouses made of particle board and vinyl siding that we "needed" and that the market "demanded?" No so many, I guess.
ReplyDeleteWhat are the statistics for Lehigh County? Any better or worse?
Great job as always dissecting the RE transfer data. Your getting to the "ground truth" as it were. Read an article yesterday which posited that it was impossible for new home starts to exceed new home sales and still have inventories falling. Yet, that is exactly what is being reported throughout the country.
ReplyDeleteIt is a testament to how piss poor the economy has been that mortgage rates are at the lowest levels ever, and home sales continue to remain sluggish.
I strongly suspect that come Sept. we'll no longer be able to engage in covering up the fact that we've essentialy had no economic growth for the last 3 years. I really do fear what's coming . . . and soon.
Notice how nobody really cares about this topic. Only 3 comments???
ReplyDeleteMost ignored and depressing story of the day. Thanks for keeping your visitors informed on one of the most important indicators of our economic status. I think there are many who want us to disbelieve our lying eyes and think things are improving. Things are getting worse. And here come higher taxes, loss of half the child tax credit, loss of deductions for mortgage interest, the marriage penalty, the estate tax, and on and on.
ReplyDeletecome on where are all the obama supporters he says the economy could be worse so we should all be happy
ReplyDeleteisn't one of the biggest problems with property sales the necessary tightening of credit regulations? this keeps a sizeable number of people who once were able to qualify and now can't from being in the house market. while they shouldn't be in their presence in the recent past convinced the industry to build all those townhouses flooding our market. a seller is squeezed at both ends by the reduced demand and the bloated supply. an improved economy will only marginally ameliorate these effects as the group of people now unable to get a mortgage are employed but at the wages too low for them to qualify for a mortgage
ReplyDeleteThis can not be laid at the feet of anyone President or party
There is another problem that this problem brings up: the real estate transfer tax. Split between the local municipality and the county, when property sales are down, revenues are down for these government entities. That means that local and county government s won't have the money to run.
ReplyDelete