Hello Fort Hunters! Hope you are all enjoying a wonderful, busy and mostly sunny spring.

We are happy to share our April real estate sales statistics for 2012 with you all.

With interest rates at historic lows, and inventory lower than most past spring selling seasons, you will notice right away (on the chart below), that we are up substantially year over year in sales volume, over 80 percent! April 2012 is also up almost 20 percent from March 2012 in total sold volume.

Our median sales price was higher both month over month and year over year, and the average sold price was down very nominally year over year and almost 14 percent higher than last month. Our days-on-market numbers for the closed sales, although up 10 percent over last year, are down more than 60 percent from last month. When days on market go down for sold listings, this is a good thing, as it is an indicator that many properties went under contract quickly in April.

Average sold price compared to original list price are both up a bit, as well. In April, sellers were getting almost 98 percent of list price. Very few places in the country can share these outstanding numbers.

The chart accompanying this article illustrates April’s under-contract activity for the last five years. We had 20 closed sales, the second-highest number since 2010. We had 39 homes show as under contract, the second-highest number of pending sales since 2010. Clearly, April was a strong month for our area.

Below is a comparison of inventory from April 2012 to April 2011. We have fewer total active listings this year, a few more new listings and more pendings than April of last year. We still have relatively low inventory levels, and we appear to have demand, so sellers who are pricing their homes correctly are going under contract quickly.

These statistics are good news for sellers; however, buyers are still not overpaying for homes, and pricing correctly makes all the difference in a quick sale for the highest amount of money the market will bear.

A slightly different view of April 2012 compared to April 2011 below highlights a huge increase in sales volume and in units sold. Our average list price is down slightly, and we had almost twice as many units sold.

Real estate in our zip code continues to thrive. Most agents have noticed a bit of a slow down in May, but the proof will be in our May statistics, which we will share with you right here next month.

Until then, be well, and let us hear from you!

Lyssa Seward and Jane Cole

About this column: A monthly analysis of real estate in Fort Hunt