Realtors in a recent NAR index reported big declines in average listing time for recently-sold properties.

By Peter Ricci

The National Association of Realtors’ Confidence Index Report (RCI) is one of the broadest measures around for Realtor business, and the latest index’s finding on average listing time seems to be one of the most optimistic findings yet regarding housing’s slow, but positive, trend toward a recovery.

Thirty-three percent of houses, NAR members reported, sold within one month, a rather dramatic reversal from the elongated listing times that often plagued listings in the post-boom housing market.

Average Listing Time – Trending Down

In addition to the 33 percent, NAR found other optimistic trends in the data:

• Fifty-nine percent of Realtors reported their recently-sold properties were on the market for less than three months.
• Only 21 percent of Realtors surveyed said their recent sales took longer than six months, a drop of 9 percentage points from a year ago, and a 10-percentage-point drop from last May.

REBAC Survey & Buyer Interest

The decline in average listing time would seem to correspond with the latest Real Estate Buyer’s Agent Council (REBAC) survey, which found that 59 percent of respondents reported higher buyer interest in 2012 from 2011. Also, the number of agents who reported fewer buyer inquiries in the last year dropped by nearly half, from 29 percent to just 15 percent.

So how does this data correspond with your neck of the woods? Are listings selling faster?