October has historically proven to be a slow month in real estate, and last month held true to this tradition. However, despite the natural slowness of the market, some cities performed exceptionally well, with houses up for sale moving faster than last year’s listings.
The hottest real estate markets last month saw view rise from 1.8 to 3.6 times the normal average. Houses remained on the market for for an average of 30 to 47 days, historically much shorter periods of time than previous years.
The top 20 hottest markets in October proved to be Denver, San Jose, CA, San Francisco, Dallas, Vallejo, CA, San Diego, Sacramento, Santa Rosa, CA, Yuba City, CA, Los Angeles, Stockton, CA, Santa Cruz, CA, Midland, TX, Nashville, Oxnard, CA, Detroit, Boulder, CO, Ann Arbor, MI, Modesto, CA, and Fort Wayne, IN.
These 20 markets performed well last month. Even so, industry insiders note that fewer houses were up for sale because October is the time of year when fewer people are selling their homes. The reduction of number of houses for sale left buyers with fewer choices. In fact, the average age of the inventory in these cities is 81 days, which is a day more than September, but still three days shorter from last year.
Overall, October’s housing market did well considering that this time of year is a slow-down for the real estate industry. This month witnessed the same seasonal decline in houses for sale versus demand that the market always experiences each October.