As we finish up the first three quarters of 2016 it is interesting to note that our market is about even with 2015 sales despite seeing some big swings in volume and the number of transactions throughout the year.
Our first quarter saw a 21% decrease in dollar volume sold over the same time period in 2015 and we believe that was a result of the stock market slowdown. During our second quarter we saw a large increase over the previous year with volume up 24% as the markets recovered. The third quarter was about par with the previous year leaving us with about the same numbers at the end of the third quarter as last year at this time.
During the past two weeks we have seen an increase in showings and more interest in the high end of our market, which was showing some weakness during the summer selling season. On the other hand, the entry level market has been very strong with high demand for properties listed for under $500,000.
There appears to be a large number of buyers sitting on the sidelines as they shop for properties and make some cursory advances to sellers. We believe that once the election is over, we will see those buyers sitting on the fence take action as uncertainty is relieved.