April real estate market updtate in Yardley, Bucks County.
Now that we are past the Memorial day holiday, I thought it would be a good time to take a look at some real market statistics for a couple of local markets.
Today, I will look at the Lower Makefield Township/Yardley market.
Yardley/Lower Makefield Township Real Estate Market update:
There have been a number of interesting, but mostly negative articles in the paper, about the current state of the real estate market. While our market in Lower Makefield Township is still challenging for sellers, it is still performing much better than many markets in other parts of the country.
Number of houses on the market in Lower Makefield Township/Yardley;
- April 2011 214
- April 2010 238
- March 2011 186
The number of homes on the market was actually lower at the end of April, 2011, than it was at the end of April last year. Inventory levels did increase from March, this year, which is totally expected, as we entered the most active part of the spring real estate market in Yardley.
More importantly than just a number, is the fact that based on current sales levels, there is an almost 9 month supply of homes on the market in Yardley/Lower Makefield Township. As I have mentioned before, we consider a market to be balanced, when there is about a 6 month supply of homes. Needless to say, this single metric, provides the strongest indication of what market dynamics we are dealing with.
Pricing:
The average asking price of a home on the market at the end of April 2011 in Yardley/Lower Makefield was $489,000.
The average asking price of a home on the market at the end of April 2010 in Yardley/Lower Makefield was $494,000.
Units Sold
- April 2011 66
- April 2010 78
Not only was unit sales activity down, but this year, buyers are getting about a 10% discount from the asking price. Last year that number was 8%.
What this all means, is that the market dynamics still favor buyers. I do not see that changing any time soon. However, homes are selling if they are priced correctly. I have had 2 recent experiences with listings, where we were able to get multiple offers, within a week or so, and were able to get at or even above the asking price.
Be realistic, and understand where the market is. Please check out the graph of units sold, along with appreciation/depreciation chart.
Yardley/Lower Makefield Township housing units
As always, I welcome your thoughts and comments.
Continue Reading > Add a Comment |15 songs to enjoy on a beautiful Yardley day!
Have to let you know up front, that this post has absolutely nothing to do with real estate. Those who know me, know that I love music, and actually have very ecclectic tastes in music.
The radio station I most frequently listen to is WXPN, which is 88.5 in our general area. It is the radio station at the University of Pennsylvania. For no particular reason, other than I love music, I recently put this play list together, from songs that I have recently heard on XPN. It is 15 songs, and lasts a little over an hour.
Would love to hear your thoughts about this selection of what I think, is great music!
Song set from listening to WXPN:
Towards the Sun Alexi Murdoch Link
Tree My the River Iron and Wine Link
Two Ryan Adams Link
Speed of Soul The Kennedy’s Link
Night Nurse Gregory Isaacs Link
Velcro Bell X1 Link
Lost In My Mind The Head and the Heart Link
One Wing Wilco Link
Unbroken Chain Grateful Dead Link
All the sand in all the sea DeVotchka Link
Wavin Flag K’naan Link
Palomine Bettie Serveert Link
Passenger The Jolly Boys Link
New Slang The Shins Link
Girl From the North Country Mason Porter Link
Continue Reading > Add a Comment |McCaffrey's supermarket in Yardley, raises money for cancer programs at St. Mary's
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFHtcLi58ys[/youtube]
Yesterday, McCaffrey’s supermarket, which is located in a strip shopping center in Lower Makefield Township, had their 4th annual, grocers fight cancer day.
In this quick video, Jim McCaffrey is interviewed on a local radio station WBCB, while broadcasting at the site.
This event is really a wonderful community program, that has raised a lot of money for cancer programs at St. Mary’s Medical Center, which is just a few minutes from McCaffrey’s market.
Continue Reading > Add a Comment |365Things to Do in and around Yardley, Pa
Those who know me, know that I have lived in Yardley, well actually Lower Makefield Township, for more than 30 years. I absolutely love living and selling real estate in the Yardley area.
Because we have lived here for so long, and because we love it so much, I thought it would be fun to create a Facebook page that would highlight all the great things to do and see, in and around Yardley. Thus was born, “365ThingsToDoInandAroundYardley” on Facebook.
We have 3 kids, and so I asked my kids, wife and friends, to come up with a list of things that they love to do in and around Yardley. I will focus on, and highlight those wonderful events, in my blog and on the Facebook page.
I also wanted to emphasize, that although I am a very active and full time realtor, I am creating a community Facebook page, not a page to promote myself or real estate. There will be no real estate sales on this page! I will have links to other FB pages, websites and my blog, for anyone looking for real estate information. 365ThingstoDoInandAroundYardley, is just to focus on those things that happen in our community, that make it so special.
So, my kids mentioned Harvest Day, feeding ducks on the pond, skating on the pond, the festival on the canal, Shady Brook festival of lights, Shady Brook haunted hayrides, just as a start. One of my kids mentioned how she absolutely loves the Yardley Ice House as spring arrives. Lower Makefield Township Community Day. I always love the huge, girls softball tournament that happens every year in Lower Makefield Township. How about the amazing, Yardley Morrisville Soccer program’s Columbus weekend tournament.
Great dinners at the Yardley Inn. Fun events at the newly renovated Continental Tavern.
It is ok to mention events that are not necessarily right in Yardley or Lower Makefield. One of the great aspects of living here, is how close we are to everything. We love the great variety of events at Peddler’s Village, for example.
So, I will start this adventure in trying to create 365 Things to Do in and around Yardley.
I would welcome and appreciate any thoughts and ideas from the community. Hope that this page becuase enjoyable and fun, as I know that it will be for me, to create it.
Continue Reading > Add a Comment |Yardley, Pa home ownership; time to buy?
I apologize for not posting as often as I should, or as often as I like to post.
Is it time to buy a home in Yardley?
Here in Yardley, and all over Bucks County, we are in the midst of the spring real estate market. This is the time of the year when many folks are planning and hoping for moves that take place after school has finished.
So what is going on, in the local, Yardley, Newtown real estate spring market?
Personally, I have been extremely busy. For those who continue to write prohpecies of doom and goom, I recently listed a house, and had multiple offers, in 2 days! Consdering that almost 15 people went through the house, and many of those who did see it, saw it a second time, I would suggest that there are definitely motivated buyers.
I saw a very interesting article in today’s New York Times, in the business section, headed, “Should you Rent or Buy, A Matter of Lifestyle.” You should check out the article, it was very interesting.
Several interesting points were made, many I do agree with. It suggested that realtors all over the country are aggressively making the case that now is a good time to buy a house. That should not come as a surprise. Would it surprise anyone if a baseball team suggested that it is a good time to go see a baseball game, or if a car salesperson suggested that it is a good time to buy a car?
I don’t think we, as realtors, are being disengenuous in suggesting that it may be a good time to buy a home. It has been proven that home ownership is good for the economy. When folks buy homes, they generally spend money on all sorts of correlated services and products. No one could argue that interest rates are at almost historic lows.
I strongly agree with the premise in the article, that lifestyle should play a role in the decision about whether to buy a home or not. As the article points out, if you are planning on moving in a near term, it is a whole let easier to move when you are renting, than when owning a home. Certainly no arguement with that.
Rent Ratio in Yardley
The article also analyzed what they refer to as a rent ratio. That is the number that you get when you divide the sale price of a house, by the annual cost of renting the same house. Although it seems somewhat arbitray, the experts suggest that when that number is below 15, people should lean toward buying. The rent ratio’s vary by a huge amount, nationally, as one would expect. Bottom line though, if you are considering buying a house in Yardley, or Newtown, or anywhere in Bucks County, do you care what the rent ration is in San Diego? San Diego happens to have a high rent ration. Oh well.
So I ran a few numbers for houses in Yardley. Guess what I found? I checked out rental listings in Palmer Farm, Edgewood Park and Yardley Corners, and based on average sale prices in those communities, compared with what the rents are going for, all 3 of those neighborhoods are at a rent ratio of around 11!
So, do I think that makes it a great reason to buy a house in Yardley? Actually, I don’t. I think the reason to buy a house anywhere, should really be based on lifestyle choice. It is only relatively recently, that home owners focused almost entirely on their home as a wildly appreciating asset. The reality is, looking back 50 years of more, people really did focus on owning a home as a lifestyle choice, and that is what we are going back to, in my opinion. I still expect and believe that home ownership will be a stable investment. I believe that our perception of what it means to be a home owner, will not change drastically. I believe that if you make a decision to buy, given where the market is today, with low interest rates, and lower home values, based on your personal lifestyle choice, you will be making a good decision.
As always, I would appreciate your thoughts and comments.
Continue Reading > Add a Comment |Chat With Marty