We’ve seen some relief in the Months-of-Inventory category, and that supply-constraint has affected sales volume (transaction count and prices) as we’ve discussed. But I want to highlight another metric to tell that story. In “normal” times (or at least in a market other than an absolute buyer’s market) closing prices on home sales transactions generally fall within a fairly narrow range of discount to the original listing price. Call it 5%, or, said another way, closing prices are usually above 95% of the original listing price. In August, the Lubbock market was hitting 99%+. And while you’d expect the occasional over-100% number in new construction (imagine a buyer comes in mid-build and makes some change-order upgrades), we are seeing YTD numbers in the townhouse market hit in the 102% range. So, you have townhome buyers closing above asking price on the original list price. And almost everyone else is paying full-fare. In fact, if you assume some sellers are leaving money on the table in their list price, and some properties show issues while pending that beg price reductions, at a close-to-OLP of 99.2%, you can get very close to saying that most deals have a ring of take-it-or-leave it to them.
August is delivery month in new home sales. Our Mover’s Moving Index reflects that with a very healthy 295 showing in August.