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Sales-to-list-price ratio nears 99 percent

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Takeaways:

Data from a recent housing survey points to a market where a large percentage of homes are selling at or just below their asking prices.

In June, the sales-to-list price ratio for nondistressed properties was 98.5 percent, based on a three-month moving average.

According to Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance’s HousingPulse Tracking Survey, this percentage is the highest reading for the metric in more than five years. Over the previous two years, the sales-to-list price ratio for nondistressed properties topped out at 97.8 percent.

Tom Popik, research director for Campbell Surveys, cited low inventory along with strong demand from current homeowners and first-time buyers as the forces driving sales-to-list price ratios.

The two groups accounted for a combined 85.9 percent share of home purchases in June, up from an 82.8 percent share in June 2014. Current homeowners represented 47.6 percent of this combined share.

First-time homebuyers accounted for 38.3 percent of home purchases in June, a share not seen since 2010.

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As the volume of distressed sales decline, investors are accounting for a smaller percentage of overall home sales — 14.1 percent in June. This amount is down from an 18.7 percent share in March of this year.

Aiding sales-to-list price ratios, the average number of offers on nondistressed properties rose to 2.2 in June.

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This increase in demand has also helped lower the average time properties are on the market.

According to the survey, the average time on market for nondistressed properties was 8.5 weeks in June, down from an average of 11.1 weeks as recently as February.

It’s worth noting that In June 2014, nondistressed properties had an average time on market of 8.6 weeks. Historically, home sales activity is significantly higher in June than February, so the decrease in days on market should not come as a surprise.

Real estate owned (REO) properties and short sales accounted for 18.2 percent of homes sale in June. Twelve months ago, these properties represented 23.2 percent of all sales.

Email Erik Pisor.