What did the promise of spring bring to the local real estate market? If you think the end-of-the-month results were as cold and cloudy as the weather in March, you’re mistaken. Although the market is nowhere near the highs it saw a few years back, things might be looking up in the area’s housing market.
According to the latest data from the Greater Augusta Association of Realtors, home sales were up 17.3 percent from February to March while the average sales price climbed 5.2 percent to $178,205. Listing prices were up, too, by 3.4 percent to $186,730. The only thing dropping in the market last month was the amount of wiggle room buyers found in the negotiation process; sellers were getting, on average, 95 percent of their asking price. That’s up from 93.8 percent a month earlier and back to variance levels maintained during the latter part of 2008.
One gray cloud on the month’s results was a 5.7 percent rise in the average number of days it took to market a home. Homes closed in February were on the market an average of 140 days, while it took an average of 148 days for homes closed in March to go through the marketing process.
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