Curb Appeal: High-dollar home listings slow at year's end

Missouri Regional MLS data show high-end home listings in Springfield dropped last month to the lowest point of 2020.

For the monthly editorial series Curb Appeal, Springfield Business Journal compiled a list of single-family homes within city limits that have an asking price of $500,000 or more. In December, listings that met the criteria came to four residences, down from eight in November and 14 in October. The November figure was the previous low of the year.

The homes listed last month have combined asking prices of nearly $3 million. The previous low for aggregate asking prices in one month was in April, at $6.6 million. The highest was $16.7 million in May, according to past reporting and MLS data.

The highest-priced home in December was a residence just off far East Sunshine Street that was listed by Keller Williams Greater Springfield for $849,000.

The latest data from the Greater Springfield Board of Realtors show the average sales price for local homes in October was $225,556 and that the residences spent an average 33 days on the market before selling.

The National Association of Realtors reported in a Dec. 30 news release that that existing home sales decreased in November to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.7 million. That's down 2.5% from October but up 25.8% from November 2019.

"Home sales in November took a marginal step back, but sales for all of 2020 are already on pace to surpass last year's levels," said Lawrence Yun, NAR's chief economist, in the release. "Given the COVID-19 pandemic, it's amazing that the housing sector is outperforming expectations."