MRIS July 2010 Sales Report: Preliminary data

MRIS released July's data for sales of existing homes in the District yesterday. On the surface, prices appear to have risen significantly. Key points [YoY]:

• Dollar volume was down 7.02%
• Average price was up 13.9%, median increased 11.4%.
• Unit sales volume [aggregate] was down 18.36%.
• Home unit sales fell 8.52%; 50 homes sold for more than $1MM!
• Condo unit sales were down a whopping 29.4% YoY although prices rose 16.26%; 9 sold for more than $1MM.

Sales prices were 94.46% of list. There is a 7.02 month supply of condos and 5.17 month supply of homes listed for sale.

I don't pay attention to the days on market metric since it can be gamed by listing agents. The significant data to me is:

• The condo inventory doubled since June [as measured by units listed divided by the number sold in the month].
• Unit sales are down.
• Dollar volume is down.

I think that since so many properties sold for more than $1MM [59 out of 529], the average price metric is almost meaningless as serving as an indicator of the market's future performance.

Analysis forthcoming.