One year ago, we were writing about a $100 million sales month and multiple properties that traded for more than the last listing price.  Activity has been notably different this year and May of 2024 was the first time in three years we didn’t see $100 million in transaction activity for the 31-day period.  May 2024 transactions totaled $68.4 million through just 20 transactions, a decline of 38 percent and 37 percent respectively for the same month in 2023.  These transactions brought year-to-date figures just over $300 million through 81 property sales, a decline of only 13 percent for transaction volume and four percent for dollar volume as compared to one year ago.  On a cumulative basis, year-to-year activity is thus far relatively steady.  It’s the look back to the anomaly of the 2021-2023 market and the five-year average that is stark.

Here is Fisher’s May Market Report…

The unprecedented transaction peak of 2020-2022 is now firmly in the rearview mirror with only significantly higher property valuations in its wake.  In 2023, the market dipped below 300 annual transactions, a lower limit that hasn’t been breached since 2009 when there were 230 transactions. Yet the total dollar volume for this relatively limited number of sales was $1.15 billion, nearly triple the dollar volume from 2009 and solidly above what was once considered a lofty ceiling.