Florida’s housing market reported rising median prices, fewer all-cash closed sales and a tight inventory of for-sale homes in January, according to the latest housing data released by Florida Realtors.
As predicted by Florida Realtors, January 2016 single-family home sales rose, totalling 16,529, an increase of 2.7% from January 2015.
"Florida's housing market remains on a steady path," said Matey Veissi, Florida Realtors president, broker and co-owner of Veissi & Associates in Miami. "While inventory levels are tight, the months' supply of homes for sale remains stable and distressed property sales continue to fall.”
Statewide, the median single-family home sales price was up 13.7% from last year at $199,000, according to data from Florida Realtors’ industry data and analysis department. Condo sales prices are also up 10.9% from last year at $152,000. January marked the 50th month in a row that statewide median sales prices for both single-family homes and for townhouse-condo properties rose year-over-year.
“The current market offers a great opportunity for sellers, who are getting nearly 94% (for existing single-family homes) of their asking price at the closing table; existing townhouse-condo sellers are getting more than 93% of their asking price,” Veissi said. “And while mortgage rates are inching higher, they remain historically low, which gives consumers more buying power."
Although the townhouse-condo market was down by 4.8% compared to January 2015, data reflected few short sales and cash-only sales during January 2016.
"Overall, statewide sales growth remained slow in January, but it's important to note that this trend has not been uniform across all price points," Florida Realtors Chief Economist Brad O'Connor said. "Taking a closer look at the data, what we are seeing are large year-over-year declines in properties selling for less than $150,000. Sales in this price range, which comprised over a third of January's total sales, were down by nearly 17% compared to January 2015.”
“Sales of homes in price tiers of $150,000 or more, on the other hand, were actually up over 14%, year-over-year,” he said. “An overall rise in home values is partly responsible for these contrasting trends, but the real culprit is a lack of inventory in lower price tiers that has resulted from high rates of investor activity and conversions into rentals."
Inventory was at a 4.5-months' supply in January for single-family homes and at a 5.9-months' supply for townhouse-condo properties, according to Florida Realtors.
