Here is what the market did in 2007.  It doesn’t look too bad, at a glance.  But, it was the first tremor in the coming disaster.

Now the bell curve, bumpy though it is, has flattened out.  It is not higher at the right end like in the previous two years.  The market has stopped growing.

Also, the curve is skewed to the left.  That is, the highest activity was in the early part of the year.  Sales levels tapered off over the balance of the year.  But, notice the spread between the sales and foreclosures.  It is narrowing with the foreclosure trend looking like it is headed up as the sales trend is headed down.  Yikes!

The average sales per month was 522 with the average number of foreclosures per month at 130.  Now we have a 25% foreclosure rate.  Ouch!  How could we endure such a spectacular rate????  Couldn’t get much worse, huh?

The next post will show some nasty statistics.

Ralph K. Olsen, MAI, SRA, IFA

Pacific West Appraisal Services, Inc.

pwas.net