December 27, 2011 (Shirley Allen)
Monthly sales of existing homes and condominiums in Florida declined in November but remained well above year ago levels while home prices finally showed encouraging signs of stability according to the latest data from the Florida Realtors®.
An estimated total of 18,583 existing homes and condos were sold in the Sunshine State in November. That was 6.6 percent lower than the 19,887 homes sold in October but 8.5 percent higher than the 17,128 homes sold in November 2010.
Existing single-family homes accounted for 12,993 of the total sales in November. That was 5.5 percent lower than the 13,755 homes sold in October but 11.4 percent higher than the 11,664 homes sold in November 2010.
The median sales price for an existing single-family home in Florida declined a modest 0.8 percent to $130,100 in November from $131,200 in October and was only 0.4 percent lower than the median price of $130,600 in November of 2010.
John Tuccillo, Florida Realtors Chief Economist, stated, “It’s really clear that two things are happening in Florida real estate. No. 1, sales are moving upward – not by a large increase, but definitely, positively on an upward trend. Second, prices are stabilizing. Now, it doesn’t mean that prices have turned around but they are stabilizing, and that’s vital for the market to gain equilibrium.”
Condominium sales accounted for 5,590 of the total sales in November, down 8.8 percent from 6,132 sales in October but still 2.3 percent higher than the 5,464 units sold in November of 2010.
The median sales price for a condo in November was $86,700, which was 1.3 percent lower than the $87,800 median sales price in October but 4.5 percent higher than the $83,000 median sales price for a condo in November of last year.
Through the first eleven months of this year there have been 170,612 existing single-family homes sold in Florida, 8.7 percent higher than the 156,916 homes sold during the same period last year.
All but two of Florida’s 19 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) have posted gains in single-family home sales over the last year with the largest gain posted in the West Palm Beach-Boca Raton area (+36 percent) and the largest decline posted in the Fort Myers-Cape Coral area (-13 percent).
“The more important factor is that sales are increasing and in large part, that’s due to lenders becoming more educated on how to deal with distressed properties more effectively and in a more timely manner – and that’s helping the Florida real estate markets recover,” Tuccillo added.
Tags: existing homes, condos, sales, median home prices, florida
Source:
Florida Realtors®
