Happy New Year!  In a flash of decorations, shopping, fun and food, the holiday season has come and gone and we’ve had our first long-awaited snowfall in Bath!  The New Year brings a time to reflect on our accomplishments and plan for our future, but first, we’ll take a look back at December Home Sales in Bath.

December Current Inventory plummeted predictably, but we saw a good increase in Pending Home Sales.  We may have seen delays in closing times due to the new Loan Disclosure rules and notification requirements that went into effect on October 3, 2015, and that may explain the slight dip in Closed Sales in December.

December ended with 66 Current Listings (down 24 from November),  26 Pending Sales (up 8 from November), and 7 Closed Sales in December (down 4 from November).   Average Sales Price to List Price Ratio finished the year back up at 98% in December, up 8 points from last month.

We can compare December 2015 with December 2014 in Bath:

• 66 Current listings in 2015 vs. 67 last December;
• 26 Pending Sales in 2015 vs. 13 last December;
• 7 Closed Sales in 2015 vs. 11 last December;
• December 2015 Median Sales Price $220,000 vs. December 2014 Median Sales Price $192,000

While December Current Inventory tracks with prior years, the stronger Pending Sales figure sets us up for good sales stats to kick off 2016, and the tick up in Median Sales Price is also encouraging, but we’ve noted that before with little to no real market appreciation actually taking place in Bath.  And, we would be derelict not to mention the current volatility in the world trading markets with distressing declines occurring this week.  Consumer confidence and ability to obtain financing are key to the continued buying and selling of real estate.

If you plan to buy or sell a home in Bath, call Maine Home Realty today!