Average Days on Market

Average Days on Market is a difficult statistic to use, especially if you are looking for definitive numbers as they relate to the market. What’s misleading about this statistic is that it only reflects those homes that are currently under contract or have closed in the subject month.

This statistic is affected by those homes that were on the market but priced incorrectly to begin with, these homes spent time chasing the market and then eventually got it right and went under contract. Days on market are much shorter for homes that are priced correctly from the beginning.

Having said that, we still track this number because it gives us a good idea of the overall market condition, we just think it’s important to keep in mind that this number is much more like an aircraft carrier then a speedboat under normal conditions.

Federal stimulus programs do not create “normal conditions” this is why we see the current “Days on Market” chart shows a sharp spike right before the expiration of the homebuyer tax credit. I assume this was created by the bottleneck of properties waiting to close. A sharp drop followed this spike after the properties involved in the tax credit closed.

Since the expiration of the tax credit and into the onset of the fourth quarter, we saw our usual increase in the average days on market. This is to be expected and based on the seasonality of the Colorado Springs market, we don’t anticipate getting a real sense of how the market is until the end of the second quarter of 2011. At that point we will have started our normal up cycle with no federal stimulus.

If you are interested in Colorado Springs Market statistics and commentary, check back often. Our charts update weekly and we comment often.