Positive News!

April 7th, 2009 11:28 AM

Plymouth County real estate shows signs of life

In a pleasant change, there is some good news on the real estate front. Lower interest rates and a spring market combined to increase the number of sales and mortgages recorded in Plymouth County last month, reported Plymouth County Register of Deeds John R. Buckley, Jr. The Registry tracks and reports regularly on the volume and value of sales and mortgages as well as foreclosure activity throughout Plymouth County. “We have been watching for signs of a strengthening real estate market for several months,” explained Buckley. “I regularly caution people not to read too much into one month’s activities. With that said, March certainly provided some encouraging signs.”

Buckley pointed to a much-anticipated spike in refinance activity. The number of mortgages recorded in a single month hit a record low of 1,165 in November of 2007. That number has climbed steadily each month since, with 2,601 mortgages recorded in the month of March. “We haven’t seen that sort of refinance activity since August of 2007, nearly a year and a half ago,” noted Buckley. “We are hearing from a lot of title examiners and real estate attorneys coming into the Registry that there is a healthy increase in refinances ‘in the pipeline’, but we will obviously have to wait until we see those mortgages at this end of the process before reporting any sort of trend.”

The Registry also saw a 34% jump in the volume of sales in March as compared to February. “We recorded 503 deeds last month, which in itself may not be very dramatic, but when comparing that to the 375 deeds recorded in February, that number is encouraging,” reported Buckley. “Add to that the fact that the average sale price in March climbed to $273,907from $259,975 in February and $255,545 in January, and you have some reason to feel some cautious optimism.”

Along with increased refinance activity and increased sales, however, Plymouth County also saw a jump in the number of notices initiating new foreclosures and a slight increase in the number of foreclosure deeds during the month of March. The Registry recorded 102 foreclosure notices last month, up from 63 in February and 72 in January. The number of foreclosure deeds rose less dramatically, from 87 in February to 95 in March. “We are always keeping a watchful eye on foreclosure activity and are concerned with any increase in these recordings,” Buckley said. “But overall, Plymouth County is in a far better position with respect to foreclosures through the first three months of 2009 than we were this time last year.”

Plymouth County has recorded 283 foreclosure deeds through March of 2009, down 12% from the same period in 2008. Notices initiating new foreclosures are down 63%, from 634 through the first three months of last year to 237 during the same period in 2009.

REAL ESTATE ACTIVITY THROUGH MARCH 2009
AS COMPARED TO THE SAME PERIOD IN 2008

All figures are based on sales or mortgages between $25,000.00 and $3,000,000.

2009 sales volume: 1,330
2008 sales volume: 1,483
(10% decrease)

2009 total sales value: $350,772,570
2008 total sales value: $524,468,662
(33% decrease)

2009 average sales price: $263,738
2008 average sales price: $353,653
(25% decrease)

2009 mortgage volume: 6,689
2008 mortgage volume: 6,464
(3% increase)

2009 average mortgage amount: $254,109
2008 average mortgage amount: $243,375
(4% increase)

2009 foreclosure deeds: 283
2008 foreclosure deeds: 320
(12% decrease)

2009 foreclosure notices: 237
2008 foreclosure notices: 634
(63% decrease)

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