I’ve always found it helpful to gain some perspective on the market by checking out sales activity each quarter. It’s particularly useful now, amidst all the economic gloom and doom.

We’ll start with a two-year, third-quarter 2008 comparison for single-family homes. The median price is down 6%. It was $835,000 in 2006, and is now $782,000. Days on market in Q3 2006 was 34, and it’s now 44.

On the condo front, the median sales price is actually flat. It was $738,250 in Q3 2006, and is now $735,000. Days on market was 41 in 2006, and has gone up to 53 in 2008.

I believe that for qualified buyers, there is a greater chance of having an offer accepted between now and the end of the year. This means less hardcore, multiple-offer situations, flexibility on price, and more favorable terms for buyers in general.