The Numbers Game

According to the National Association of Realtors, sales in the month of March increased by 6.8%.

Honestly, activity here at the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds, just doesn’t reflect any kind of increase in business; in fact it is just the opposite. On April 26, 2009 we ended the day with 18,984 documents recorded...today April 26, 2010, exactly one year later, that figure will probably be about 17,100. This represents a decrease of about 1,884 or 10%. That is significant number.

Of course, the NAR is talking about just Deeds(sales) and my numbers represent all documents. So let's compare Apples to Apples (as they say) and look at deeds only at Middlesex North...Last year we ended April 26, 2009 with 1,358 deeds recorded...today, April 26, 2010 we will probably end the day with 1,450 deeds recorded. That is an increase of 92 deeds or 6.5%. OK, that number fits with the NAR numbers.

But our business is driven by mortgages, not deeds. We are busiest when refinancing is booming...Let's take a look. We ended April 26, 2009 with 4,509 mortgages recorded. We will probably end today, April 26, 2010 with 3,170 mortgages recorded, a decrease of 1,339 or 29.5%.
That's significant.