One of the dangers of analyzing a single month inventory movement in dollars sales data against a single month from a previous year is that it fails to offer a wider and accurate perspective of the real estate market. 

The 12 month trailing averages, that we typically use when referring to the conditions under which we operate in real estate, offer a true sample of inventory movement given that  the results arise from a wider statistical database.

A sample from this can be seen by looking at previous reported dollar sales from previous months where the percentages go from -17% in May, -31% in April, -32% in March, -53% in February, -52% in January against a +31% for June. It would be a bold statement for anybody in the real estate market to imply that a 31% increase in reported dollars sales and a 45% increase in reported units sales for the month of June is an indication of a market trend across the board. When in fact, what is being singled out is inventory movement in both units sales and dollars for one single month in the middle of the summer compared to one single month in the middle of the summer from the previous year. 

If one is in position to report the condition of the real estate market and have the option to choose what type of data to explore it could be tempting, given the detrimental state of

the economy, to use single months reporting data instead of

12 months trailing. Please be aware of this difference as it

may tour you through opposite spectrums of the market. 

If we were to see a 3 month standing, 12 month trailing  positive percentages in both reported dollars sales and

unit sales we would definitely be on more solid ground in declaring that the market has established a solid floor for

an increase in these parameters.

We are anticipating July will bring a very similar if not higher inventory movement than June.