Have a safe Memorial Day

We would like to wish each of you a safe and relaxing Memorial Day weekend.  As we enjoy time with our family and friends lets also take a moment to remember those that have served our country to the fullest throughout the years.  Click for a quick summary on the history of Memorial Day

Tampa Real Estate Market View – 7/28/2009 – Home Price Index

This morning the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index has been released.  The % decline in the 20 city compsite continued to -17.1%, however this was less of a decline than the prior month of -18.1%.  The consensus forecast was anticipated at -17.90%.  Todays data reflects a 4th consecutive month of improving decline.  As for the Tampa home market the price decline was flat, with no change from April to May.  This was better than the  (-7%) decline in March to April.  The year-over-year change for homes in Tampa price declines came in at -20.8%.

For those of you waiting to sell your existing property or have your property still on the market hoping for Prices to rebound quickly, you have a long way to go.  These current numbers while not indicative of all area in the country or Tampa for that matter, does give a solid view of where home prices really are (down).  We suggest if you have to sell, then price it right and if you are already in the market with no sale, it is probably due to price.  In this market, at this point in time the adage needs to be ”Reduce It to Move It”. 

For those buyers still on the fence waiting for prices to decrease further, it is not likely.  If anything you are not only missing the boat from a low price standpoint, but interest rates don’t look seem to be moving much lower either.

homes, prices, real estate, tampa

Tampa Real Estate Market View – 7/27/2009 – New Home Sales

This morning the economic report on New Home Sales has been released.  As we had anticipated this number rose to 384K  in June,  from a seasonally adjusted of 346K in May.  The consensus estimates were at 352K.

Sales have now risen for  three straight months.  All this being said the median sales price for new homes fell to $206K down 5.8% from the previous month.

In summary what this data shows is that the lower end priced homes are moving.  Tomorrow we will see more specifics on home prices when the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index is released.

Tampa Real Estate Market View 7/9/2009 – Citizens Home Rate Increase 2010

Well it looks like those of us with Citizens Property Insurance in the South Florida area might see up to a 10% increase in rates, while at the same time those individuals in other counties might actually see a decrease.

Citizens Insurance Board approved on a 5 to 3 vote a 10% increase in rates for many of its customers.  While Citizens has kept rates frozen over the last three year, they were allowed by the Florida legislature to increase rates up to a cap of 10% in 2010.

Tampa Real Estate Market View 6/24/2009 – New Home Sales

The real estate market for new home sales continued it slow pace.  The commerice department reported today that sales on new homes dropped .6% to an annual rate of 342K.  In a year over year perspective we are down some 33%.  Economist had estimated sales of 360K so this number was disappointing.

Real Estate Market View 6/16/2009: Housing Starts

New Housing Starts and Permits moved forward in May from the lows set in prior months.  Housing starts increased 17.2%  to an annual rate of 523,000 units according to the Commerce Department.  Additionally, New Building Permits rose 4% the largest gain since June of last year.

These are encouraging numbers, inparticular if we can continue to see Building Permits increase over the next few qtrs.  Since Building permits indicate future growth, that will certainly be a positive sign.

Real Estate Market View 6/2/2009 – Pending Home Sales

The National Association of Realtors announced today that Pending home sales for April were up 6.7% from March.  This is the third month in a row that pending sales have increased.  Slowly it seems that we are creeping out of the bottom of the real estate market.

Additionally, we see that 30yr mortgage rates are beginning to increase from their prior lows.  Once again we want to riterate that housing really has bottomed and while prices might still decline slightly, the risk is more to the upside than down.

Real Estate Market View 5/28/2009 – Florida Home Trend

A small trend is forming in existing home sales in Florida.  We have reached the eighth consecutive month where sales activity have increased year over year.  In April we saw the following for Florida

Existing Single Family Home Sales 18% increase (yoy)

Existing Condo Sales 21% increase (yoy)

On the alternative side we continue to see a decrease in sales price for existing single family homes with a 31% decrease (yoy) and condos prices a 41% decrease (yoy)

On the National front the pace of sales for existing single family homes creeped up slightly in April from March by 2.9%.  However, as has been the case, prices continue to drop nationally as well, with latest S&P/Case-Shiller Index showing home prices dropping 18.7% in March.  While this number is still negative it is slightly slowing from prior months.

In summary the best measurement at this point is inventory on the market.  The more we can reduce the inventory on-hand the quicker we should see a substantial and sustainable recovery.

On a side not 30 year fixed rate loans are beginning to slightly creep back up from their historic lows.

As mentioned in prior posting the bottom in the market is and the time to buy is now!

Daily Market Sip 4/28/2009

The Florida Senate is considering joint resolution Bill # 532 related to among other things the reduction in the maximum increase in tax assessment for commerical or residential rental property to no more than 5% or the average annual percentage growth in revenue derived from the property for the preceding 3 years.

This would be a huge benefit and catalyst to getting the real estate market moving again.  The Florida House has passed the bill and now the Senate is in final debate.  Here is a link to the Bill currently in the Senate.

Florida Senate

Daily Market Sip 4/23/2009

The March numbers on existing home sales was released this morning.   Existing homes sales dropped 3% to 4.57 million units compares with a revised # of 4.70 million units in February.  This drop in March was actually lover than the consensus # of 4.65 million.  Additionally, there was a slight rise in sales price with a slightly lower drop in existing homes on the market.

Next Page »