Friends,
When we talk about how the townhouse market is doing, one important factor to consider is the absorption rate. In an ideal scenario there would be 55 listings new to the market and 55 sales, which would be 100% absorption. In 2008, only 40 of 55 sold and in 2009, 28 of 67 sold. So far in 2010 we’ve had 25 townhouses on the market of which 16 have sold, meaning a 64% absorption rate. This is much healthier than 2009′s 42% absorption rate. (Since the average townhouse takes 6 months to sell, this can be skewed slightly.) However, these 16 closings indicate that we are getting back up to 2008 levels but perhaps not back up to a typical year of 55 sales so far this year. This latter fact is surprising to me because we at Vandenberg have been thrilled with the activity level in 2010. Apparently, this means that Vandenberg has gained a larger share of the market.

–Dexter