WEEK 50 of 2023 is in the books!

New listings continue to surpass 2022 levels. In Week 50, REALTORS® entered 2,283 properties into the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) compared to 2,005 in 2022. That is up 13.9 percent. When we consider the increasing inventory of new construction listings not on MLS the numbers are obviously even higher. Clearly we are trending toward a balanced market where neither sellers nor buyers have an advantage. What I have seen is properties that are move-in ready continue to sell  quickly. Being "pretty good" is not good enough if a seller wants to get the best possible price.

Pre-Pandemic: New listings were up 13.6 percent versus Week 50 of 2019 when REALTORS® entered 2,009 properties into the MLS.

Pending listings are running slightly behind 2022 trending. A total of 1,559 property listings went under contract during Week 50. That is down 3.0 percent from the 2022 total of 1,607. This is a concerning trend.

Pre-Pandemic: Pending listings were down 4.6 percent compared to 2019 when 1,635 property listings went under contract.

Closings trailed 2022 levels during Week 50 when a total of 1,444 units sold compared to 1,578 in 2022. That is down 8.5 percent.

Pre-Pandemic: Closings were down 6.5 per[1]cent from 2019 when a total of 1,544 units sold.

Showings are still running ahead of 2022 levels. During Week 50, there were 25,924 showings compared to 24,654 the same week last year. That is an increase of 5.2 percent.

Pre-Pandemic: Property showings were also 5.2 percent ahead of where they were in Week 50 of 2019 when consumer traffic totaled 24,633. As I mentioned last week, this is an indication of more properties being available to view and, in my opinion, is not an indication sales will soon trend higher.

Sellers withdrew more property listings from the MLS during the week ending December 18 than that same week in 2022. Off-market listings rose 4.0 percent with a total of 1,260 homes going from active to off-market compared to 1,212 last year.

Pre-Pandemic: Sellers withdrew fewer property listings compared to Week 50 of 2019 when off-market listings totaled 1,296. That is a de[1]crease of 2.8 percent.