Florida Home Sales Increase for 5th Month in a Row
ORLANDO, Fla. (Feb. 25, 2009) – Florida’s existing home sales rose in January, making it the fifth month in a row that sales activity showed increases in the year-to-year comparison, according to the latest housing data released by the Florida Association of Realtors (FAR). Existing home sales rose 24% last month with a total of 8,450 homes sold statewide compared to 6,810 homes sold in January 2008, according to FAR (see chart above). Florida’s median sales price for existing homes last month was $139,500; a year ago, it was $206,900 for a 33% decrease.
9 Comments:
The question is...who's doing the buying? The Chinese seem to be confined to California real estate so Florida---?
Cuba. Possibly even Russia or Iran.
Jim,
Who's doing the buying? You and me, or at least our Florida and Southeastern US counterparts.
Please stop with the thinking that the "big shiny thing" everyone sees is the ONLY thing stopping us from hard times. The Chinese aren't our sugar daddy. The McMansion in Gilbert, AZ is not our growth engine.
It is a positive metric, and right now positive is good. However when you extend out the revenue, it's still down by $230 Million due to the plummeting prices. An additional 1,650 units at those prices and we're back to break even on the best of times. I live in Florida and remember the real estate bubble/crash at the end of '06.
Orlando Residential real estate is dropping 2% a month, easily. The spin of recovery will be delayed as more and more jobs are lost and homeowners finally get real. Selling R.E. here in C. Fl, and our office is not seeing anything more than bottomfeeders unable to feed. Unprepared to get real with their prequalifying and verifiable downpayments. The only business seems to be in the giveaway wrecked homes. If this is the bottom we have a long climb to a normal market.
Considering the median price was $226,000 in 2006 when I (realtor) sold a few homes in that price range I would say it sucks big time. People are upside down, underwater--whatever you want to call it, in Florida. Thanks to the speculators from California, NY, and overseas driving up our real estate prices to totally unaffordable levels. The people who got rich are long gone. Shameful.
I appreciate the realpolitik of the last two comments with regards to their experiences in the proverbial "trenches". Would love to pick your brains further-----
I am going to be one of those buyers.
With the super low prices in combination with the housing credit, I can't pass it up.
Florida will recover because in the end if you are going to retire and you have some money, it is going to be in Florida, Arizona or California.
The people buying are CASH buyers. They have cash and are spending it. They will be selling these same pieces of real estate a couple of years from now to all of those who wanted to "wait for the bottom." I have news for you who want to wait.. the Florida real estate bottom was reached last year.
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