More statistics: 2012 vs 2013

Are things getting better with real estate? That's a question I'm often asked these days so I'm constantly looking for new evidence to use in forming an opinion on the topic. Today I checked our volume of recording and our revenue collection for the first four month of 2013 and compared those figures to the same items in 2012. From January thru April 2013, we recorded 23,310 documents, an increase of 10% from the 21,203 recorded during the same period in 2012. Our revenue collected from all sources was also up in 2013. From January thru April 2013, we took in $3,888,487 from all sources. For the same months in 2012, the amount was $3,595,624. That's an increase of 8%. The amount of those totals collected as deeds excise tax showed no such growth. During the first four months of 2013, we took in deeds excise tax of $1,450,882. In 2012, that figure was $1,440,290. That's an increase of just 0.07%. Because the excise tax collected is based on the purchase price of property and because the number of deeds recorded in 2013 was 21% higher than the amount recorded in 2012 (2009 in 2013; 1656 in 2012), it would seem that prices went down. The one caveat is that many of the deeds recorded, perhaps as many as half, are related-party transfers that incur no tax. If there are more of these "no consideration" deeds recorded, it would throw off other calculations.