HALF WAY THERE JULY 2010
June was a good month for closings locally and in many other markets around the country. We saw the tail end of the "First Time Home Buyers Tax Rebate Program" come to an end and the impact from a pretty good Spring selling season affect sales significantly. Anytime we experience a 20% increase in " year over year" activity, it's something that we get excited about.
While the temperatures may be on the rise, the market is starting to cool off though. Mid to late Summer has historically been the down season for real estate in our area and it seems to be following that trend this year. This bundled with the anxiety over the oil spill has some potential buyers on the fence about any decisions to buy for now. But, unless those people are buying in the bayous of Louisiana, there has never been a better time to buy Citrus County real estate. Interest rates just dropped to another record low, 4.625%!
We posted some interesting bits of trivia based on the activity during the first half of this year. The impact of all of the foreclosures has had a strong bearing on the market. On the good side, these listings are attracting buyers to the market. On the bad, they are holding down prices significantly. Nearly a third of the residential listings sold fell into the foreclosure of short sale category. On the active listing side (our available inventory) 209 foreclosures are currently listed and 225 homes are listed as short sales. While those are both significant numbers, the total is only about 15% of the available inventory. Our sources tell us that there are many communities in Florida and around the country that are far worse. We're hoping that the upward cycle in sales that we were experiencing during the first half will continue during the second. Even so, It will be a buyers market for some time to come.
It's because there are so many listings for buyers to choose from. Ther're picking the top listings to look at and never getting to the rest. Supply is still way above 2800 homes in our market so the selection is nearly unlimited. For this reason, only the very competitively priced properties are selling.
You can see below that the number of new listings coming in so far this year is greater that last year by about 10%. Luckily, the number of sales so far this year is up by an even a greater rate than listings so, our "month's supply of inventory" is still going down. It's at the lowest level we've seen in years this month.
We lost the first time home buyers incentive last month but we still have 2 very enticing benefits to offer buyers. The lowest prices in nearly 10 years and interest rates that are at, or near, all time lows. These low prices seem to be what has been pushing the surge in sales. We've had our share of "first time home buyers" but the majority of buyers are coming from out of the area to buy retirement homes (even if they're not quite ready to retire). A lot of those are paying cash but for those who do need to finance, 5%interest (or lower) is heaven sent. By the way, there are some real bargains for any budget in vacant land these days. It's a good time to move some of your investment dollars back into real estate. If the old adage "buy low sell high" has any merit, this is the perfect time to look seriously at Citris County real estate.
Semi-Annual Trivia
*Over half of the transations were cash!
*A total of 9 homes sold aaabove $500K
*The hottest price range was $80K-$100K
*2,234 listings expired without selling
*84.7% of the sales were residential
*361 of 1219 wwere distressed home sales