January 24, 2012 (Shirley Allen)
Monthly sales of existing homes and condominiums in Florida surged in December while prices for both singe-family homes and condos improved according to the latest data from the Florida Realtors®.
An estimated total of 22,126 existing homes and condos were sold in the Sunshine State in December. That was 19.1 percent higher than the 18,583 homes sold in November but still 1.7 percent lower than the 22,531 homes sold in December 2010.
Existing single-family homes accounted for 15,290 of the total sales in December. That was 17.7 percent higher than the 12,993 homes sold in November but still 1.6 percent lower than the 15,546 homes sold in December 2010.
The median sales price for an existing single-family home in Florida rose 3.2 percent to $134,300 from $130,100 in November and was also 0.9 percent higher than the median price of $133,000 in December of 2010.
John Tuccillo, Florida Realtors Chief Economist, stated, “Although sales were down slightly in December, they’re up strongly for the year, which reinforces the reality that Florida is in a slow real estate recovery. Our expectation is that recovery will continue through 2012. The major obstacle in the market is the inadequate accessibility to financing. Prices are moderating, but we don’t expect too much movement owing to the continuing significance of distressed properties.”
Condominium sales accounted for 6,836 of the total sales in December, up 22.2 percent from 5,590 sales in November but still 2.1 percent lower than the 6,985 units sold in December of 2010.
The median sales price for a condo in December was $91,900, which was 6.0 percent higher than the $86,700 median sales price in November and 4.0 percent higher than the $88,400 median sales price for a condo in December of last year.
For all of 2011, there were a total of 273,502 existing single-family homes and condos sold in Florida, 10.0 percent higher than the 248,671 homes sold in 2010. It was the third consecutive year that yearly home sales surpassed the previous year’s total.
Nine of Florida’s 19 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) posted increases in single-family home sales over the previous year with the largest gain posted in the Miami area (+16 percent) and the largest decline posted in the Fort Myers-Cape Coral area (-25 percent).
For condos, 16 of the 19 MSAs posted sales increases, with the largest gain posted in Miami (+54 percent) and the largest decline posted in Orlando (-21 percent).
Tags: existing homes, condos, sales, median home prices, florida
Source:
Florida Realtors®
