Helena, AL Home Sales-3rd Quarter 2014 vs. 2013
A common trend has been emerging within the general Birmingham, AL real estate market, and Helena, located in north Shelby County is no exception. This trend involves a decrease in general foreclosure activity and a gradual increase in average and median sale price. The changes are not huge, however they are moving in a positive direction, so lets take a look at what Helena, AL home sales look like for the 3rd quarter of 2014 compared to 2013. Oh, and I hope you enjoy the pictures of Old Town Helena that I’ve included with the post.
Making sense of the Helena Home Sales Numbers
1) There was a 2.8% increase in median sales price for 2014 over 2013’s median sales price of $179,000. This is not a lot, however it is a move in the right direction, right? The median price provides a more reliable snapshot of home prices in Helena because it is not influenced by the highs and lows as much as the average sale price is. I think what we see happening in the Helena market is similar to other areas in the Birmingham market as well as the country as a whole. There are some national news stories about how the country has finally recovered but I see it differently. There are still some serious employment issues that need to be resolved before buyers can afford to make payments and sales truly increase, which is the key to growth in the real estate market.
2) The average sales price also increased by approximately 8.6% in 2014 from 2013’s average sales price of $193,432, and this appears to have been caused by the same reason as the median sale price I mentioned above. Remember that the average sale price is influenced more by the highs and lows so a couple of high sales will cause this metric to increase more than the median sale price.
3) A decrease of 33% in Short Sales and Foreclosures did not really change the median and average sale price much but it did have a small impact on it as distress sales went from 15 in 2013 to 10 in 2014.
4) A minor reduction in inventory levels had little affect on Days on Market, going from 47 days in 2013 to 45 in 2014. It will take a larger reduction before we start to see a decrease in the days on market. A lower inventory of homes will give sellers an upper hand in asking price and should result in days on market decreasing.
5) Total Dollar Sales Volume increased by approximately 13%. This appears to have been the result of a combination of more homes selling and an increase in the average sale price.
6) A small decrease in inventory levels resulted in a minimal increase of slightly less than 1% in the Sale Price to List Price ratio, not significant but worth noting.
7) The Total Number of Home Sales went from 109 in 2013 to 113 in 2014, which was a 3.7% increase. Again, this increase in demand is minimal however it is headed in the right direction.
The numbers may not bowl you over with huge increases in average and median sale prices or number of house sales, however I don’t consider this all bad. Helena has been relatively stable over the years when compared to other areas and while it did have its fair share of foreclosures it was not as severe as it could have been. I believe that a slow steady return to normal levels is better than a quick increase.
What are your thoughts? If you have any questions about Helena or other areas in Shelby County leave me a message below and we can discuss.
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Good stuff, Tom. I like the visual, and I’m sure these stats are useful to locals. Comparing Q3 2013 and Q3 2014 is helpful too because the same time period year-over-year can be very telling.
Thanks Ryan. You are right about the year to year stats. Like I said in the post, Helena has not made huge strides since last year but I believe that they are moving in the right direction.