What's Selling? What Isn't?

Being the intellectual that you are, you may spend your days and sleepless nights pondering such age old questions as "What is the true meaning of life?", "Big bang or divine plan" or the even more confounding "Paper or plastic?".

For months now, I've been wrestling with the seemingly unanswerable question of "What's selling and what isn't?" in the world of Pinellas County real estate.

I've done a little research -- very little, I assure you -- and come up with some interesting if not too enlightening facts that may shed some light on this darkest of questions.

At the end of September, 2008, there were 15,703 residential properties listed for sale in the Pinellas County Multiple Listing Service (MLS). Of these listings, 787 were sold during that month -- proof that there are a few buyers out there who are ready, willing and able. Those sales include both single family homes and condos.

Ah, but what did those 787 people actually buy?

Here's the list of the most active sales categories during September for single family homes ...

1. 11.2% -- $120,000 to $139,999
2. 10.3% -- $140,000 to $159,999
3. 09.9% -- $200,000 to $249,999 and $300,000 to $399,999 (tie)

The least active list is composed of higher priced properties, as you probably expect. Here are the least active price ranges.

1. 0.6% -- $900,000 to $999,999
2. 0.6% -- $800,000 to $899,999
3. 0.7% -- $700,000 to $799,999

Single family homes priced under $100,000 also saw very little activity; probably because there are not very many of them as a percentage of overall listings. (Gadzooks! What stunning insight I have on these matters!)

What about condos? Well, here's the ranking ...

1. 12.4% -- $200,000 to $249,999
2. 11.2% -- $120,000 to $139,999
3. 10.8% -- $100,000 to $119,999

The least active prices for condos were in the higher price ranges ...

1. 0.0% -- $700,000 to $799,999
2. 0.8% -- $800,000 to $899,999
3. 0.8% -- $900,000 to $999,999

Lower priced condos, those under $59,900, saw very little activity with sales of only 1.2% of the total. I suspect that is because there are few priced that low. (Hey, give me another Gadzooks on that as well.)

Well, there you have it. You can draw your own conclusions from this mountain of fascinating data. Or, you can conclude that the data support no conclusion. Or, you can conclude that no conclusion is worth the effort required to create a conclusion.

As for me, I'm off to resolve that confusing matter involving chickens and eggs.

For more information on real estate in the Pinellas County area, visit my website at http://www.thestpeterealestatesite.com/.

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