It looks like 2010 is starting off pretty well, with home sales in Anderson County up 25% from January of 2009.

During the month of January 2010, there were 81 homes that closed, with an average price of $139,547. That’s up in both numbers and price, as January of 2009 only saw 61 homes sell with an average price of $132,360. That continues the trend we’ve seen since September, 2009 where each month has sold more that the same month of the preceding year.

As is typical, the Under $100,000 range accounted for the largest portion – about 47% of sales. The highest price home to close was a Hartwell Lake waterfront home for $1.1 million, while the lowest was $9,500.

The sales were spread across the county, with MLS Area 109 being the most active. This is the area between Highway 81 and Highway 29, from downtown Anderson to Interstate 85. There were 13 sales in this area with an average price of $161,000.

The Absorption Rate – which is the measure of how quickly the market is absorbing the inventory and is defined as total homes on the market divided by total homes sold in a month – is still very high with the average being around 18 months. This means it would take a year and a half to sell all the homes currently in inventory at the rate they are selling today. By way of comparison, historically a Seller’s Market is considered 0 to 5 months, a neutral market is 6 to 7 months, and a Buyer’s Market is over 7. Currently the only segment close being even neutral is the Under $50,000 price range with about 7 months of homes in inventory. The highest is the Over $700,000 range with 44 active listings and only 1 home selling in the last 3 months – giving us 132 months or over 11 years of inventory!

The bright side is that homes are still selling, while pricing and condition are even more crucial than ever. Another interesting fact is of the homes that didsell in January, over two-thirds of them were on the market for less than 6 months. With interest rates remaining low and over 1,600 homes on the market in Anderson County, it is definately a great time to be house hunting!

If you’d like to know everything about the state of the Anderson County real estate market, we’ve released our January 2010 Real Estate Market Report. Check it out and let us know what you think.

As always, if you’re considering buying or selling a home please give us a call at (864) 225-2503 or email us for more information about how we can help you.