In an unbelievable turn around from recent years, this weeks reported figures on Lis Pendens – the first step a lender takes towards foreclosure – almost equaled the sales figures for the same period.

In fact, the average mortgage entering Lis Pendens, was higher than the average sales price by nearly 10% – unfathomable even 6 months ago.

2009-03-15_004332

2009-03-15_073354

FYI, the numbers for the same week ending in 2008 were as follows:

Number of Sales ………………………..35
Total Dollar Amount………………….$54,290,313
Median Price……………………………$660,000
Average Price…………………………..$1,551,152

Number of Lis Pendens Filings……22
Total Mortgage Amount……………..$8,330,229
Median Mortgage………………………$309,519
Average Mortgage……………………..$378,647

So, while there were 6 more Lis Pendens filings in 2008, the average mortgage amount has almost doubled year over year.

# of Sales are down 40% ’09 vs ’08

Total Dollar Amount is down nearly 75% ’09 vs ’08

Average Sales Price is down nearly 60% ’09 vs ’08

It’s a whacky world we live in.

**remember, these reports are lagging indicators,  months old because the major brokers in this market still refuse to employ a Multiple Listing Service on a consistent basis, which would provide more timely data.

see Telegraph.co.uk piece, based upon this post here