Florida Home Sales Steady, Price Up, Backlog Down

May 23, 2012

Florida home sales fell slightly in April, but state Realtors were quick to say Tuesday that median price and pending sales rose dramatically during the month.

Figures compiled by the Florida Realtors also showed the inventory of homes available for sale shrunk further as buyers continued to whittle away at the state’s post-crash backlog of existing homes.

“Here in Florida, we’re seeing some strong numbers that show positive momentum for the state’s housing recovery and our economy,” said 2012 Florida Realtors President Summer Greene, in a statement.

Sale closings of existing homes fell 0.7 percentage points from April 2011, while condominium sales were off about 4.9 percent.

Nationally, sales of single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, increased 10 percent in April from a year ago.

“A return of normal home buying for occupancy is helping home sales across all price points, and now the recovery appears to be extending to home prices,” Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, in a statement. “The general downtrend in both listed and shadow inventory has shifted from a buyers’ market to one that is much more balanced, but in some areas it has become a seller’s market.”

Median prices for homes rose significantly in Florida. The statewide median sales price for single-family existing homes in April was $144,350, up 10.2 percent from the year-ago figure. The statewide median for townhome-condo properties was $108,000, up 16.1 percent over April 2011. Nationally, median prices increased by 1.9 percent.

Part of the increase in home prices is due to a shrinking inventory of homes and condos on the market, said Florida Realtor chief economist John Tuccillo. The backlog of available single family homes fell to a supply of just under six months – in most cases less than half what it was in late 2007.

Inventories in the Tampa area fell more than 30 percent between April 2011 and last month. Inventories in Orlando and Miami fell 27 percent and 23 percent respectively during the same period.

“The housing numbers for the state of Florida continue to signal recovery,” Tuccillo said in a statement. “Sales in 2012 are above where they were in 2011, a harbinger of a third straight year of improvement.”

Pending sales were also up sharply, climbing 38 percent statewide from a year ago. Pending sales are those deals that are signed but have yet to close, a process that usually takes one to three months.

The interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.91 percent in April 2012, down from the 4.84 percent average during the same month a year earlier, according to Freddie Mac.

By The News Service of Florida

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Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News