As the fourth quarter of 2008 brought unsettling news we looked to the first quarter of 2009 to provide an indication of what to expect for the coming year and beyond. Although uncertainties in many aspects of the entire economic picture remain, there are some reassuring indicators to grasp at this point. Our new president has been a strong proponent of economic policies that will shore up badly damaged sectors of the economy and will no doubt continue to implement much needed regulation. As the financing needed to allow homebuyers to purchase property is loosened we will certainly see rises in numerous measures of consumer confidence. At this time, we are seeing a steady increase in sales volume, albeit down from this period last year, as sellers become more comfortable with realistic pricing in this cooled market.

February saw a large increase in deal activity, especially in the one bedroom market with 123 new contracts signed. This is still an historically bleak number year to date, but a great improvement over the past three months. Contract prices continued to trend downwards in the one, two and three bedroom markets, but the luxury 5/6 bedroom segment of the market showed improvement in the number of contracts signed as well as a 54% increase in contract signed price from January. The greater volume of absorption this month is a direct result of lowered unit prices.

With the overall number of transactions remaining nominal, the market remains in a state of uncertainty and pause.

The CORE Real Time Report for January highlights these changes by evaluating data from the most recent transactions to provide up to date information regarding the state of the market today.