February 2024 Compared to 2023

While one month is not indicative of a trend or enough to make an assumption about the future of the real estate market, the comparison of February from this year to last year showed a significant change in the median and average sales prices. 

This month, I looked at the number of homes for sale, number of homes sold, average and median sales price, percentage of the asking price that sellers received, and median days on market before sellers accepted a contract, all in Chittenden County. 

In February of 2023, there were 101 single family homes and condominiums listed compared to 99 in 2024. Not a big difference. There were 66 sold in 2023 compared to 63 in 2024. Again, not a significant difference. However, the median sales price sold in 2023 was $485,000 compared to $410,000 in 2024 for a drop of approximately 15.5%. And the average sales price dropped approximately 14% from $562,999 in 2023 to $484,130 in 2024. Again, one month does not indicate a trend, but we have not seen a drop like this in some time. 

Sellers received 100.24% of their asking price in 2023 compared to 100.7% in 2024, not a significant difference. It took 13 median days to get a contract in 2023 compared to 9 in 2024. Not a big difference there, either. 

I also checked Franklin County focusing primarily on pricing and days on market. In 2023, the median price of single family homes and condos together was $350,000. In 2024, the median price was $324,450 for a drop of approximately 7.5%. This is half the drop in Chittenden County but is still worth paying attention to. The median days on market dropped from 43 in 2023 to 29 in 2024. 14 fewer days to get a contract. This is significant for sellers. The average percentage sellers received in 2024 was 98.81% compared to 98.49% in 2023. 

What does all this mean? First, we should not jump to conclusions about the market. We will wait until the end of the first quarter to look at those statistics. The end of the second quarter will be even more important to analyze. But sellers will want to be careful to price homes a bit under the market in case this trend continues. Sellers may feel they are “leaving money on the table,” but if they have priced too low there will be multiple offers that will push their price up higher.