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Existing home sales continued to climb locally in October, while median sales price drops to below $250,000
Florida?s existing home and condo sales jumped again in October, following what has become a trend of higher closings but lower prices.
In Palm Beach County, existing single-family home sales rose 36 percent, while the median price of an existing home fell to $243,900 _ an 8 percent drop from October 2008.
Treasure Coast sales jumped 46 percent since October last year, with prices of existing homes falling to $110,400 from $134,600.
The numbers, released by Florida Realtors this morning, are in conjunction with a National Association of Realtors report with similar findings.
Nationally, sales of single-family, townhomes and condominiums grew 10 percent in October, compared to the same time last year. Sales activity, according to the report, is at its highest pace since February 2007.
?Many buyers have been rushing to beat the deadline for the first-time buyer tax credit that was scheduled to expire at the end of this month, and similarly robust sales may be occurring in November,? said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the national group. ?With such a sale spike, a measurable decline should be anticipated in December and early next year before another surge in spring and early summer.?
Florida?s median sale price for an existing home was $140,300 in October, down 17 percent from October 2008.
Despite deflation, Palm Beach Pocketbook Pain Index still rising
The Palm Beach County Pocketbook Pain Index continues to rise into the stratosphere, even though South Florida inflation has gone negative. Blame Florida’s nation-leading rate of “seriously delinquent” mortgages.
In a nod to the Misery Index (which sums national unemployment and inflation), I put together a local index that combines three indicators: unemployment in Palm Beach County, inflation in South Florida and the rate of mortgages in Florida that are either 90 days past due or in foreclosure.
That adds up to an index of 28.66, the highest point for the measure since 1979, the year my quarterly index begins.
The Pocketbook Pain index is based on these stats: September unemployment of 11.7 percent, according to the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation; South Florida inflation of -1.85 percent in July, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics; and 18.81 percent of mortgages statewide that were either 90 days past due or in foreclosure in the first quarter, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America.
Chart by Jeff Ostrowski
Palm Beach pending home contracts double what they were this time last year
As of Monday, Palm Beach County buyers had contracts on 2,635 homes, condos and townhouses, a 49 percent increase over the number of contracts at the same time in 2008.
Condo Vultures, a Miami-based real estate consultancy, released the contract report Wednesday, saying the increase signals that the $8,000 tax credit continues to spur sales.
In South Florida, including Palm Beach, Miami-Dade and Broward counties, home contracts totaled 18,277, a whopping 96 percent jump over the same time last year.
?South Florida residential resale market with some effort is poised to surpass the 20,000 pending sales threshold in 2010,? said Peter Zalewski, a principal with Condo Vultures. ?All cash investors and first-time buyers spurred on by President Obama?s $8.000 tax credit program are competing for deeply discounted residences that are usually owned by banks.?
Buyers are opting for condos and townhouses at a slightly greater pace than single-family houses.
Contracts on condos and townhouses total 9,581, representing 52 percent of the pending deals that are scheduled to close. Pending contracts on single-family houses total 8,696, representing 48 percent of the market, according to the Condo Vultures®.
Suit filed against Carousel Can Can, settlement expected
The colorful Carousel Can Can Café in CityPlace had a lien placed on it earlier this month by its construction company, which says its owed $178,050.
The 22-page suit was filed by Sisca Construction Services, LLC, in Palm Beach County Circuit Court on Nov. 3.
Sisca says it did $326,762 worth of work on the French restaurant/entertainment venue, but never received full payment.
The 8,000-square-foot eatery, which seats up to 300 indoors and outdoors, opened in August on CityPlace?s second level near the popular Taverna Opa restaurant.
Owned by restaurateur Karim El Sherif, Carousel Can Can features dancers and a contemporary lounge atmosphere.
A spokeswoman for Carey O?Donnell Public Relations Group, which handles CityPlace, said today there had been an issue between Carousel and Sisca, but that it?s been resolved and the bill will be paid by the end of the year.
Sales up again in South Florida?s real estate market
Florida single-family home sales continued to tick upward in the third quarter of this year with a 33 percent increase over the same time last year.
In Palm Beach County, sales rose 31 percent compared to 2008, and in the Treasure Coast, they were up 48 percent.
The latest housing statistics, released by Florida Realtors this morning, mirror national housing sales, which grew 6 percent in the third quarter of the year compared to the same time in 2008.
Housing prices continued to fall in Florida this quarter compared to the same time in 2008 with the statewide median sales price down 22 percent to $145,400.
In Palm Beach County, the median price was down 19 percent to $244,500. Treasure Coast prices dropped 26 percent to $111,200.
?Most economists think the recession is over, but people are afraid to spend money as unemployment keeps going up, which creates problems for every sector of the economy,? said Tim Becker, director of the University of Florida?s Bergstrom Center for Real Estate Studies, in a press release from Florida Realtors.
South Florida foreclosures continued upward climb in October, but dropped 9 percent in Palm Beach County
The Miami-based consulting firm Condo Vultures released its monthly report on foreclosure filings in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties today, showing an overall increase of 8 percent compared to October 2008.
Throughout the month, lenders filed to foreclose on about 8,440 properties in the tri-county area _ an average of 272 per day, according to the report.
But in Palm Beach County, foreclosure filings actually dipped 9 percent in October with 2,508 foreclosure filings compared to 2,768 actions in October 2008. During the same time in 2007, just 1,507 foreclosures were filed.
?Foreclosure filings are up from last year, but beginning to slow in volume compared to a quarter or two ago,? said Peter Zalewski, a principal with Condo Vultures, LLC. ?At one time, the region looked poised to eclipse the 100,000 threshold, but that possibility is beginning to wane.?
At the current rate, the report estimates foreclosures to hit 98,000 in the tri-county area by the end of the year.
2008?s foreclosures were at 75,000, while 2007 saw 33,000 foreclosures.
Leading October?s numbers is Broward County, with 4,002 foreclosures, a 21 percent jump compared to 2008.
Miami-Dade had 1,928 foreclosures filed, signifying a 10 percent increase compared to last year.
It?s interesting to note that the report says the increase in filings does not equate to more properties on the resale market because that inventory has plummeted by 36 percent in the last 49 weeks.
UF survey says Florida real estate will suffer as uncertainty plagues the state
A University of Florida study released yesterday claims the Sunshine State?s economic and real estate recovery will be stalled by residents? own insecurities.
?Most economists think the recession is over, but people are afraid to spend money as unemployment keeps going up, which creates problems for every sector of the real estate market,? said Timothy Becker, director of UF?s Bergstrom Center for Real Estate Studies.
About 270 people were interviewed for UF?s quarterly survey of professional real estate analysts and investors. It found commercial real estate the weakest sector of the economy, with no improvement expected until the job market turns around.
?Florida was the first one into the recession and it?s probably going to be the last one out,? Becker said.
The positive news, the survey found, is that foreign investors might prop up the real estate market as favorable exchange rates for the Euro against the dollar makes property here more attractive.
Pending home contracts up in the nation, South
The National Association of Realtors is reporting this morning that pending home contracts in the South increased 4.9 percent in September over August, and nearly 23 percent compared to the same time last year.
The nationwide numbers rose 6.1 percent in September over August and 21 percent over September 2008. September’s numbers represent eight months of gains _ the longest consecutive streak of increases since the measurement began in 2001.
Pending home sales is a forward-looking measure of contracts signed.
It doesn?t include numbers specific to Florida, but conducts a regional measure of the South.
?What we?re witnessing is a rush of first-time buyers trying to beat the expiration of the tax credit at the end of this month,? said Lawrence Yun, the association?s chief economist. ?Home values will stabilize sooner rather than over-correcting. That, in turn, will mean wealth stabilization for the vast number of middle-class families and lay the foundation for a durable economic recovery.?
Northeast pending home sales slipped 2 percent in September but was still 17 percent above September 2008.
In the West, September home contracts jumped 10 percent, a nearly 24 percent increase over the same time last year.
Sometimes, half a big box is better than none
Retailer Petco has signed a lease for half the 30,000-square-foot Linens-N-Things space at Legacy Place in Palm Beach Gardens, says Dan Lynch of Atlantic Retail Partners.
The 15,000-square-foot deal lights up a small part of the dark big-box space vacated by bankrupt retailers Linens-N-Things and Circuit City. Nordstrom Rack said this week it would take a 36,000-square-foot former Circuit City in Boca Raton.
Palm Beach new home construction rises to highest level since real estate crash
Developers built 260 new single-family homes in Palm Beach County in the third quarter of 2009, the most in any period since the housing downturn, according to a report issued today by Metrostudy.
The low point, which occurred in this year?s first quarter, was just 93 homes built.
During the boom, as many as 2,500 new single-family homes were built each quarter in Palm Beach County.
Brad Hunter, chief economist with Metrostudy, a housing data firm, said while the increase is still small, it?s a positive sign for the local economy.
?It?s significant in that it shows builders have now finally gotten rid of the inventory they were bogged down with and they are likely to start more houses in coming quarters,? Hunter said. ?The little increases reflect sort of a regaining of the equilibrium level of inventory.?
Hunter cautioned that the $8,000 tax credit could be skewing third quarter numbers and a dropoff in construction could be the on the horizon for later this year and early 2010.
“We could also see some holdback in starts because a lot of people accelerated their purchases and bought in the second and third quarter who ordinarily would have waited until 2010,” Hunter said. “We may have borrowed demand from next year.”
The study also showed the top 10 South Florida communities ranked by annual ?starts? or new homes constructed.
Six of the developments are in Palm Beach County, including the following:
Rank/ Community/ Starts/ Move-Ins
1 Valencia Pointe (Palm Beach) 132, 140
2 Abacoa (Palm Beach) 124, 165
3 Canyon Springs (Palm Beach) 121, 76
4 Greystone (Palm Beach) 91, 83
5 Saddle Bridge (Broward) 78, 0
6 Waterway Village (Ind Rvr) 57, 72
7 Century Gardens Vill (M-D) 49, 37
8 Olympia (Palm Beach) 48, 60
9 Sagewood (Palm Beach) 38, 29
10 Falcon Trace (Indian Rvr) 32, 56
In a six county region including Palm Beach, Broward and Miami Dade, detached housing starts have doubled in the past six months, from a low of 184 in the first quarter to 364 in the third quarter, but even with that increase starts are still at less than one tenth of the pre-boom level. There were only 121 attached starts in the third quarter, up slightly from the low of 112 in the fourth quarter of 2008.
Chart by Jeff Ostrowski based on Metrostudy data
