Comparing May 2021 to May 2022 | 6/8/22

Once again, May of this year out-performed May of 2021. Looking at single family homes and condos together in Chittenden and Franklin Counties, we see that the market continues to be strong for sellers.

One statistic I think is hard to believe is that combining single family homes and condos, there are 108 active listings on the market today and the average list price is a whopping $718,751. Several high-priced homes are pushing up this average. In the $200,000 to $400,000 price range, there are only 16 properties for sale in Chittenden County and 68 from $500,000 to $3,495,000. This fact makes it difficult for buyers in a lower price range.

In May of 2021 the average sales price was $461,836 compared to $514,039 in 2022 for an 11% increase. 128 properties sold in 2021 versus 167 in 2022 for an increase of 30%! This is so interesting because more properties sold but there still feels like a shortage. The average days on market were cut in half from 27 in 2021 to 13 in 2022.

Lastly, the average percentage sellers received increased 6.63% from 101.22% of the list price in 2021 (healthy increase over asking) to an average of 107.55% in 2022. This made sellers happy but increased the woes of the average buyer. Most of the time when a buyer goes over asking, the seller wants the buyer to either agree to kick in extra money if the property does not appraise or remove an appraisal contingency completely.

In Franklin County, the average sales price in May 2021, was $299,427 and was $334,761 in May of this year, an increase of 11.8% year-over-year. 48 properties sold in 2021 and 54 in 2022, not a big increase. The average percentage list-to-sell ratio sellers received was 99.64% in 2021 and 104.79% in 2022, an increase of 5.15%. The average days on market are almost identical, 32 in 2021 and 32 in 2022. Interesting that the days on market were nearly the same and the number of properties sold were nearly the same. The increase over asking means to me that people were vying for the same number of properties and in order to win, they had to bid far over asking.

There were too few properties sold in Grand Isle County to make any statements about the market there. Next month I will report on Q2 and there will be more to report from Grand Isle County.

It continues to be important for buyers to use agents who are experienced navigating multiple offers. This is a challenging market and being able to share what has worked is invaluable to buyers. Likewise, sellers need to know where to price their homes and when an offer comes in, sellers need to have an agent who will negotiate in their favor to get the highest, “cleanest” offer.