“When we compare our 2008 numbers to 2009, we are up significantly,” Kris Ratigan, Mel Foster Co.’s marketing director, said Monday of the market’s performance.

Citing statistics from the Quad-Cities Multiple Listing Service, or MLS, which tracks all homes sales in the market, she said the area closed $38.193 million in sales in December. That compared with $32.142 million a year earlier. The number of units sold was 241 in December, which was flat with 233 units sold in December 2008.

Caroline Ruhl, the president of Ruhl & Ruhl Realtors, said her company saw an 11.7 percent increase in units sold in December from a year ago. Sales volume was up, from $34.32 million to $41.38 million, in Ruhl & Ruhl’s combined markets.

But the Quad-City area saw sales slide from November to December. In November, the Quad-City MLS posted $48.74 million in sales with 372 units sold. The November performance was boosted, in large part, by first-time homebuyers rushing to close deals ahead of the original federal tax credit deadline.

“We slid, but you normally go down in December because of the cycle,” Ratigan said, adding that the holidays and winter weather traditionally slow down the market.

However, the average sales price for the MLS of $158,478 in December was above both November’s $131,379 average and the $133,657 average a year ago, she said.

Ruhl said one of the indicators to watch is pending sales, which showed strength in December. Her company posted a 26 percent increase in volume and a 39 percent increase in units in year-over-year comparisons.

“That’s a huge December,” she said, adding that the sales were “riding the first-time homebuyer tax credit, good interest rates and what I think is pent up demand.”

Across the Midwest, home sales declined from November to December, but ended the last month up 9 percent from prior-year levels, according to the National Association of Realtors.

There were 86,000 sales in the 11-state region last month, with a median sales price of $173,600, up almost 4 percent.

That was slightly weaker than the national trend.

Total home sales across the country were up nearly 15 percent in December, without adjusting for seasonal factors. The median home price nationally gained nearly 4 percent, to $225,400.

(The Associated Press contributed to this story.)

Provided by: QC Times, Jennifer DeWitt

The Quad City area continues to see new construction very differently depending upon whether you are in Scott County, IA or in Rock Island County, IL. The Illinois side saw its market share of new construction sales dip below the 20% mark again in 2009, even though it experienced a slight increase in unit sales.  Overall unit sales fell 15% from 2008 levels in the Quad Cities.  House sales took the bulk of the loss, as overall condo sales were only down 2% from 2008.  Since 2004, house sales have fallen from 67% of unit sales to 61% of sales in 2009.  Inventory levels have stabilized and appear well balanced with the price points of recent sales.  The over-development of residential building lots in some areas of this market has left a legacy that is yet undetermined.  Will the need to liquidate lots lead to some lower housing prices or just slower absorption rates?  The coming months will reveal the strategies of lenders and developers alike. 

Current sales patterns reveal pockets of success at various price ranges, but many terrific areas are going unnoticed by consumers who, even in the face of upcoming deadlines for tax and other incentives to buy, do not seem to feel any great sense of urgency.  Coupled with the fact that buyers can choose from a wide variety of settings, home styles and prices, the current tax incentives and still low interest rates will hopefully be enough to “thaw” the winter sales chill and bring buyers back into the marketplace in time to take advantage of these conditions.