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Subscribe to RSSNew data released on Wednesday from Realtor.com show that median list prices for single family homes, condominiums, townhouses and co-ops have surged within the last year in Florida, one of the states hit earliest and hardest by the housing market crash.
Among the 146 municipal areas examined by Realtor.com, four out of the five markets with the largest year over year increases in median list price were based in the Sunshine State.
For example, the median list price of single family homes in Fort Meyers and Cape Coral, Fla., was $213,000 in August of 2011, a 33 percent increase from August of 2010 and the biggest increase in the country overall. In second place was Miami, which had a median list price of $249,000 as of August 2011, representing a 24.5 percent increase year over year. Naples, Fla. came in third with a median list price of $359,900 in August of 2011, a 20 percent increase from the previous year. And in spots four and five were Punta Gorda, Fla., and Fort Wayne, Ind., with median list price increases of 13.3 percent and 12.7 percent year over year, respectively.
While the overall number of for sale listings has fallen in the majority of the municipalities that Realtor.com monitors in Florida, the median age of inventory in the state is quite high, at 137 days, according to the report. The median age of inventory nationwide is 103 days as of August 2011.
“It appears that we are in a phase of stability right now,” said Realtor.com spokesperson Julie Reynolds. “We see this as potentially positive, [since] Florida was one of the first markets to be affected by the deterioration of the housing economy.”
She added, “Obviously unemployment is a huge factor for any market, as are foreclosure rates.”
On a national level, the median list price for single family homes, condos, co-ops and townhomes was $189,900 as of August 2011, just 0.5 percent higher than the median list price in August of 2010, according to the data from Realtor.com.
However, 33.5 percent of the markets covered by the report had median list prices that decreased by 1 percent or more in the last year, and 12 percent of the markets saw declines of 5 percent or more year over year. 43.8 percent of markets saw median list price increases of 1 percent or more, and 15 percent of markets saw increases of 5 percent or more.
And the real estate website also found that median for sale listing inventories have decreased 19 percent year over year since August of 2010, and are at their lowest levels since January of 2007.
The takeaway? “As inventory is declining, confidence is increasing and buyers are jumping in,” said Reynolds. “Lower inventories, when combined with stable prices, we see that as a positive sign.”
The top five markets with the largest year-over-year increase in median list price in August include:
- Fort Myers-Cape Coral, FL 33.21%
- Miami, FL 24.56%
- Naples, FL 20.01%
- Punta Gorda, FL 13.34%
- Fort Wayne IN 12.70%
The top five markets with the largest year-over-year declines in median list prices in August include:
- Chicago, IL -13.05%
- Las Vegas, NV -11.19%
- Atlanta, GA -10.67%
- San Francisco, CA -10.04%
- Santa Barbara-Santa Maria-Lompoc CA -10.02%
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I lived in Sarasota (on Siesta Key) 1971-77. A different time and place. Go back every 2-3 years and am blown away how much $$$$ it takes to buy a dilapidated 40+yr old clapboard house...in run-down areas. Forget anything within 5 miles of the beach...it's all about location, location, location. You want to move to Florida? Be prepared to settle for 1/3rd the house, quality,...for exchange of where you currently live. That's unless you choose to live on the wrong side of the tracks or out in the middle of the state where you will go nuts due to boredom, heat, mosquitoes,
Home prices are still a bubble. It is possible that we will over do it on the downside as prices crash below long term averages. Deficit of 1.2 trillion is funding tens of millions of jobs in America. Austerity measures, spending cuts will be deflationary. Without jobs, without money to earn people will not be able to afford these home prices.
www.kondratieffwavecycle.com/kondratieff-wave/
Best thing you can do is build your own place now to control the costs.
Homes are beyond over-priced due to the bubble and most won't let them correct down.
Don't worry...deflation is coming...it's unavoidable.
James, good luck on that "build you own".
Developers have gobbled up every good piece of land. And what's left is unincorporated and unregulated and you could end up with a toxic waste dump being put in right next to your home.
Of course this report is from realtor.com. It's like the barker for a carnival yelling to the passing crowd that the tents are the place to be. All of their friends are in there, and it's a site to see. Pull out your wallets and start spending!
NO way the housing market is getting better. Jobs are still non-existent in areas where the most homes are being foreclosed and left empty. Other areas of the country have housing costs so inflated, that no one outside of a $300k/yr salary can afford anything.
List price is meaningless. These prices may be reduced 5 times until the house gets sold. Some houses sell for 25% or less of the original list price.
Despite all the hoopla from the Realtor Industry ( and I am a licensed Managing Real Estate Broker) the only meaningful number is closed sale price.
Stay put. Buy only if you plan on living a couple of decades in the property. I am buying rental property with the intention of holding it for 20 years or more.
The industry has to stop the carnival barker used car salesman mentality. Real Estate is expensive and buyers are more and more sophisticated.
Ultimately the foreclosures will clear and the market will find a bottom. Lenders will hopefully lend to strong borrowers. Until then, the media and the industry needs to stop the silly hype.
How much do you suppose Realtor.com paid sweet Ms. Taylor to write this fluff piece??
I have been very negative on real estate since 2004 and I still think that prices will go down in high priced areas but there are deals out there that make sense. I just closed escrow two weeks ago and it would have cost me just as much to rent this place than own it. I can tell you that after 7 years of renting it sure feels GREAT to own. I got a good deal on this house and if prices go down even more, well too bad, like I said it feels great to own again and people fail to put a price on that. Also, the alternative to buying/investing in real estate simply s..cks.
I live in Port Richey, 1.5 miles from the Gulf, and my house is perfect. Size, shape, price, neighborhood, etc. I have no issue with the area. My previous house in PA is almost identical to the one I currently reside in but was literally 4 times the price. Not to mention the taxes. FL was the smartest move I ever made.
In other headlines today:
Oh well, so much for the Realtors usual spin.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/44503938
"median list prices for single family homes, condominiums, townhouses and co-ops have surged... the median age of inventory in the state is quite high, at 137 days, according to the report. The median age of inventory nationwide is 103 days"
They raised the LIST prices... and nobody is buying. What a great "comeback"!!!
Realtors are shameless, thanks for the joke realtor.com
comeback???
lmao
Are these prices just for what people list their property for or is it the actual selling price? Hosing is no where near making a comeback.
BTW---banks have come up with a new way of handling foreclosures. They aren't dumping them all on the market at once. They sell one, they pull another one on the market. Makes the foreclosure crisis look like it is improving but will stretch it out even longer.
Bank of America just announced it would be increasing/speeding up its forclosures and forecasters believe other banks will follow. It's one step forward and four steps back, with banks screwing us over at every turn.
Wolf - It is LIST prices... about as meaningful as the appraisal values given during the bubble.
Most homes are being purchased by foreign investors who will try to "flip" these homes and turn a quick profit....same thing that caused the whole problem in the first place...this resurgence is short lived..........
Foreign citizens should NOT be allowed to buy or own real estate in the U.S. In many, if not most, countries, foreigners cannot truly own real estate. We're selling out our own country.
I have a hard time beleaving these numbers...banks are already starting on new foreclosures..and many are in Florida alone..picking a spot here and there for a short time frame means nothing..THey are not clear if this is closed sales or just applyed for loans. Always seems strange to me to watrch the news..first home sales are falling along with values..then the next month or week,,whichever...it all changes...for another week..or maybe even month.
Well Mo,
I think its more the dems (clinton, dodd, frank) telling banks to loan to anyone and everyone, along with the stock market mortgage bundle BS. Then, of course the "speculators" went nuts. oddly enough all that picked up alot of steam once the dems took control of congress. what a coincidence
Poverty is on the rise. Great time for a housing recovery.
Who needs families when the rich can buy many houses at once?
Ridiculous assertion - pure hype. Read carefully - these are listing prices, not sales. This data is no indication of improvement. The author is asking us to "hope things have changed." Again, read carefully - these over-priced listings are sitting on the market 33% longer too. Improvement = year-over-year sale price increases and reduced time-on-the-market.
Ridiculous assumption is correct--it doesn't factor into the market the huge backlog of foreclosed homes awaiting 'robo-signing' reconciliation and the enormous number of foreclosures that will be dumped on the market once the legal snakepit is resolved -- in a few years! Until that works it's way down--and it won't due to the job market and changing lifestyles--the aging of America and the need for mobility--will far outweigh the standard 'desires' to own a home. So most will be picked up by overseas investors and not people that will actually live in the homes (unless as 2nd homes). Suburbia will never be the same in our lifetimes thanks to Bush and Obama.
exactly! Steve you are correct, if only everyone would actually read the article instead of just headlines.
Really? Yesterday the big news of the day was 1 in 5 Americans are living at or below poverty level. I am confused!!
Why the confusion? The gap in wealth between the richest and poorest Americans is greater than before Hoover. The top 5% have money to waste and more just sitting in banks with no where to invest or spend it. My neighborhood is filled with $300,000 plus (current sales prices) homes and they are selling well and many people are actually adding on or remodeling. Just a mile away where the average price is $120,000 there are burned up lawns, broken windows and empty houses with rusted for sale signs everywhere.
Those who have are doing well in this economy. Those who actually work for a living are the ones who are suffering.
Maybe if you quit listening to AM radio and Fox News you might understand why both are not only possible, but guaranteed in our new economy.
PMoscateli - Don't even bother taking into consideration anything from realtor.com, The National Assoc. of Realtors or any other real estate industry clown.
Has the NAR ever even stopped it's "Call a realtor today!" ad campaign?
Good news: gotta be false. Bad news: gotta be true. When did we become such a nation of pessimists?
2008, I believe.
When Bush was elected to a second term.
We really have become a bunch of whiners. Pathetic what this once-great country has been reduced to. Even during the height of the Cold War, in the 50s and 60s, Americans still believed we were going to win. Simply pathetic the pessimism these days.
When you begin with a president (Reagan) telling the voters that "government isn't the solution, government is the problem" and then we get teabaggers and Republicans out to shut down every aspect of government what else can you expect?
brundo - When we learned to read more than the headlines on propaganda sites like MSNBC.
"median list prices for single family homes, condominiums, townhouses and co-ops have surged... the median age of inventory in the state is quite high, at 137 days, according to the report. The median age of inventory nationwide is 103 days"
They raised the LIST prices... and nobody is buying. What a great "comeback"!!!
This also doesn't even take into account the cars, boats, appliances, closing costs, remodeling allowances, etc... that are being included by the sellers just to get rid of the dumps.
if you believe this i have a house to sell you...at a good price..you people are stupid....$265,000
These are LIST prices. LIST PRICES!!!!
Not sale prices.
Pure propoganda by the Realtors.
But we are comparing Listprices to Listprices, so your comment does not make any sense. Listprices are higher than sales prices, but that goes for listprices 12 months ago as well. No matter how you look at this, these numbers suggest a certain trend. For some people the glass will always be half empty I guess.
List prices are a joke.
House A has been on the market for 2 years with a starting list price of 700k, after 2 years they have finally lowered the price to 500k and sell the house for 480k. House B goes on the market one month later with a listing of 470k and sells quickly for 455k because they priced the property properly. The writer of this article would take this info and say the the market is great because now sellers are getting 97% of the listing price.
Most of these articles are garbage. Garbage in, garbage out without any real substance to them.
Why do these kinds of articles appear?
Because America will believe anything.
We believed in change and a candidate who played us like a fiddle.
The sheeple will believe in anything that allows them to keep on hating.
There is a new candy out bragging about how they want us to buy air pockets that are infused into the chocolate. I have checked them in a store....they are the same price as the ones not infused with air.
No wonder the 400 families think unwealthy people are unworthy.
Real Estate will not make a 'comeback fro 4-5 years at best. This is only my opinion, but I work in the business everyday. Dispute me and you will be proving my second sentence to be true.
Isolated pockets of prosperity, that's all it is.
Obummer,
Read my lips, NO 2nd term.
I am a real estate agent in Las Vegas/Henderson Nevada. Although housing prices have decreased here over the last few years right now we have an explosion of buyers and are seeing multiple offers on most decent properties. I have ALL CASH buyers who recently went $25K above list price on a house and did not get it. CNN Money rated Las Vegas as the #1 place to buy rental property and since then the market has taken off. We are 45% undervalued and investors are taking advantage of the low prices with many investment groups coming in and buying 100+ plus homes at a time. 52% of our homes sell for all cash and we have as many homes in escrow as we have on the market.
The rise of the robber baron landlords....
Proof that foreigners are doing well and the dollar is worth less than ever.
The people fortunate enough to invest at the right time will not sell for a loss, they will wait. The new wave of foreclosures in southwest Florida will be in areas investors would not be interested in unless the economy and market was expanding and creating jobs for the construction and services industry. These segments of the market are used by employees willing to commute 15 miles to a good job, not the tourist.
OK this is plain stupid. The 2008 CORRECTION does not require further correction in the upward direction. the mean housing price should be such that the mean income can afford it! This rise in housing prices is NOT good for the middle class. The realtors the banks the et. al. they like it because they make more money. Curiously enough buyers will pay more and be all happy about it...
That's because people are still idiots John, buy today and don't worry about tomorrow and how they'll make the payments when one partner's job is outsourced to China.
j
You mean rising housing costs amidst declining wages and rising poverty is a bad thing?
The only people who consider higher housing prices "good" are those who have a house to sell, their pocketbook outweighs the country's future.
The other day I happened to look at some historical data and realized that mortgage interest rates in 1982 were running about 17%! But, I also remember back then that a $100,000 house was being given away by a local radio station and billed as the Hundred Thousand Dollar Dream Home.
Interesting that house prices have doubled to tripled since then, while mortgage rates have been reduced to less than a quarter of the rates in effect at that time. Not sure how that ties into this story, but I just have this intuitive sense that there's a connection in there somewhere.
Of course they are up... they are the houses that are selling.... check the ones that are not selling.... prices continue to drop....
This is a bogus story....
Happy days are here again, home prices rise from their already overinflated highs. Great news, more middle class Americans priced out of the market. Yep, they'll be selling like hotcakes ant day now...... to the Chinese.
Headline should read: Realtors put BS spin on dismal housing market.
It has to be true, NAR (National Assn of Realtors) confirmed the numbers. To quote: 'it's a great time to buy or sell a house" - well which is it.
Call a Realtor Today!!! (sarcasm)
Housing prices still have a long way to fall before they are back where they should be. The value of a house is: construction material+labor+land value. Anybody who tells you a stretch of property is worth $300K more than one across the street is cheating you! Not hard to figure out America, quit taking it in the a$$.
And chinese material and illegal labor are dirt cheap.
I rented out my house in Michigan, and built a new one in Wisconsin. Even if I would lose the job, it wold never come to my mind to walk away from my house, I would just found a chipper apartment and live there.
The real issue here, besides unemployment and low pay if employed, is that the only REAL market is in new houses and foreclosures. If you are a current homeowner trying to sell, your market is set by the foreclosures in your area. Appraised prices reflect cost per SqFt for comps in your immediate area, i.e. foreclosures. No current homeowner cannot compete with the Govt (Freddie and Fanny) and the Banks, and, the average cost of a newly constructed home is at a record 27% over a used home. Why someone would build and move into a home that has an instant negative equity position is beyond comprehension. The cash deals related in this article are from investment groups buying from the banks at 40-50 cents on the dollar which they HOPE to turn into a longterm positive cash flow as rentals. As the "new" normal evolves (smaller families and lower pay) and with energy prices set to explode, smaller "homes" will become not only fad but necessity. More current homeowners, living with the continual strain of an upside down mortgage and associated neighborhood decline, find it harder pay with no relief in sight. The foreclosure market will continue to be well fed for years to come .
You naysayers to the economy need to stop listening to people you agree with. STOP COMPLAINING!!! yapyapyapyapping