Huntsville Real Estate

 Southeast Huntsville Market Brief

I wish to thank several readers who have sent email regarding our Local Market Trend feed and say your comments and compliments are most appreciated! Some have asked us to focus on a more granular profile of the Huntsville Real Estate market by providing some analysis of the main North Alabama MLS areas. So with this post we are going to take a brief look at the Southeast Huntsville Real Estate area focusing on the Single Family Homes segment with a Quarter over Quarter perspective.

Southeast Huntsville is a vibrant community nestled on Huntsville’s eastern mountains and flowing into the Tennessee River valley. Not only is the area scenic and well developed it also hosts one of the best school districts in the state, where students consistently excel in academic and other extracurricular pursuits. Add to this its proximity to night life, shopping, and employment with easy access to Redstone Arsenal, home of several thousand and growing professional jobs and it is no wonder that this is one of the more popular areas in the city in which to live.

As we have noted before, we are experiencing a region wide sales slowdown since approximately October/November of 2007. While each of the primary areas of the local MLS is experiencing this slowdown differently as respects home price dynamics, the sales slowdown and inventory build up seem very wide spread.

Looking a the first quarter of 2008 (Q1FY2008) verses the same quarter of 2007 (Q1FY2007) does reveal a similar market dynamic in Southeast Huntsville as being experienced region wide with overall unit sales declining -22.5% for the quarter, inventory rising 14%, resulting in a current absorption rate inventory of 6.8 months of supply up 41% Quarter over Quarter. The following charts illustrate these changes.

When we look at the price action (using dollars/sqrt ft) in this segment of the market we do see some relative strength as compared to other major areas of our market. For the past 12 months home prices have remained relatively stable with an overall price appreciation of a little less than 1%. This is likely due to the area’s inventory profile, as just a year ago inventory levels were hovering between a 3 to 4 month supply and even with the recent inventory buildup it is more in a transition phase than in a full blown buyer’s market. However as illustrated in the following graphic since the October/November 2007 unit sales decline, prices have weakened from their annual peak.

Overall this one of the strongest areas in the Huntsville Real Estate market and given the pent up demand we are likely to see in BRAC relocations over the next few years now may be a perfect opportunity to make an offer. If you are currently in the market as a buyer or seller, it is important that you have representation that understands the ebbs and flows of the local market at neighborhood granularity and if you currently don’t have an agent we would certainly welcome an opportunity to interview for your business.