July 2, 2012 (Chris Moore)
Monthly sales of existing single-family homes and condominiums improved again in Florida with total transactions improving by over five percent from April to May and home prices for both single-family homes and condos improved on both a monthly and yearly basis according to the latest data from the Florida Realtors®.
An estimated total of 28,718 existing homes and condos were sold in the Sunshine State in May. That was 5.2 percent higher than the 27,309 homes sold in April and 6.6 percent higher than the 26,943 homes sold in May 2011.
Existing single-family homes accounted for 18,723 of the total sales in May. That was 6.7 percent higher than the 17,544 homes sold in April and was 7.2 percent higher than the 17,462 homes sold in May 2011.
The median sales price for an existing single-family home in Florida increased 1.8 percent to $147,000 from $144,350 in April and was 8.9 percent higher than the median price of $135,000 in May of 2011.
The number of single-family homes available for sale continued to decline drastically from a year ago, falling 34.5 percent from 157,887 in May of last year to 103,490 last month.
There was a 5.5 months supply of homes available for sale compared to a 9.8 months supply in May of last year. On average, a single-family home in Florida took 64 days to sell in May, down from 79 days in May of last year.
John Tuccillo, Florida Realtors Chief Economist, stated, “Some very positive trends have been developing in the Florida market, and the May numbers indicate those trends are continuing. Closed sales, pending sales and prices – both average and median – are strongly above where they were a year ago. In fact, average prices have increased in 11 of the past 12 months.”
Condominium sales accounted for 9,995 of the total sales in May, up 2.4 percent from 9,765 sales in April and 5.4 percent higher than the 9,481 units sold in May of 2011.
The median sales price for a condo in May was $112,000, which was 3.7 percent higher than the $108,000 median sales price in April and 14.3 percent higher than the $98,000 median sales price for a condo in May of last year.
The supply of condominiums available for sale also declined drastically from last year with 53,558 condos for sale compared to 87,033 in May of last year, a decline of 43.1 percent.
The sharp drop in available homes reduced the supply of inventory to 5.5 months, down from a 9.7 months supply a year ago, a decline of 43.3 percent. On average, condo’s in Florida took 68 days to sell in May, down from 82 days in May of last year.
Tags: existing homes, condos, sales, median home prices, florida
Source:
Florida Realtors®
