Has The Real Estate Market Stablized?

Has the real estate market stabilized? That is the big question these days. Statistics may show this to be true but we cant gather them until time has passed and there is data to analyze. As of November 2009, the overall inventory accumulation for Philadelphia is 9.3 months, as opposed to 9.1 last year. What that means is this: IF not one more home were to be put onto the market, according to the current inventory of homes per sale, it would take 9.3 months to sell all of them. Is that good or bad? Well, it's kinda bad... 3-4 months would be much nicer. There is still too much stuff out there for sale so its still a Buyer's market in that regard. Next, the pricing gap from list to sale price has tightened up. A year ago, the average home sold for a mere 89% of what it was originally listed for... FIRE SALE PRICES! Now, it's a healthier 92%. This means there are less fire sale deals to be had and/or that realtors are smartening up their sellers to price more effectively. Lastly, the median sale price is up!!!- .03%! Not much at all.
So the answer to the big question is, probably. 2010, in my opinion, is not going to be an appreciation year by any means, but it is also not going to be a huge plumet in value year. There may be slight pops and drops and overall we are going to see a flat year. The first half may be spiked by the first time home buyer tax credit extension and the existing home buyer credit. The second half may flatten out after April 30, which is the deadline, by the way.
I encourage you to check out the market stabilization in your area... click the link here on the page and get the info based on your home and neighborhood sales data. Numbers dont lie. People do! ;)