For example, this was good news for Jacksonville in terms of its local economy:
Home sales spike by 16 percent in Jacksonville area
Realtors see double-digit growth over 2008
By Kevin Turner Story updated at 6:48 AM on Friday, Jul. 24, 2009 EMAIL PRINT BLOG THIS COMMENT Buzz up!
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» Foreclosure notices spike in Jacksonville area
Jacksonville metro area single family home sales for June jumped 16 percent higher than those of June 2008 and posted a two-year record in a month when state and national housing sales also rose.
Realtors sold 1,180 Jacksonville area homes last month, up from 1,013 in June 2008 and 18 percent from 1,002 over May, the Florida Association of Realtors reported. It was the highest single-month figure for the metro area since June 2007.
There’s more good news â€" there were 1,622 signed purchase agreements in June, 42 percent more than June 2008, said Melanie Green, communications director for the Northeast Florida Association of Realtors.
“We think that makes it look like the $8,000 tax credit for the first-time buyers and continued low mortgage rates are spurring buyers to get in on the action,†she said.
Pending sales are an important indicator for the near future, because sales closings come some time afterward â€" meaning increases could continue, Green said.
But many of those sales are short sales or foreclosure sales â€" keeping the metropolitan area’s median sale price below $200,000. That figure for June was $162,100, 18 percent less than the $197,000 for June 2008, according to FAR. The median price has wavered between $146,000 and $173,000 since September 2008.
Diane Neuman, a broker at Stalvey-Matthews Realty, said she thinks those lower-priced sales are fueling the sales increase.
“There are so many foreclosures and short sales, there’s great deals,†she said. The prices are wonderful. You can get a home for less than someone paid for it five years ago.â€
Neuman noted that the sales bump could have to do with normal summer relocation trends, but noted her office has seen a marked increase in traffic in recent weeks.
Green said the $8,000 first-time homeowner tax credit from President Barack Obama administration’s stimulus plan is helping fuel the sales increase, too.
Additionally, housing starts in June rose to their highest level since September 2008 with 300, according to the Northeast Florida Builders Association.
But a sharp rise in foreclosure notices â€" up by nearly 1,000 in June to the highest level in at least the last five years at 3,640 â€" according to real estate industry RealtyTrac, suggests the Jacksonville market isn’t out of the woods yet.
Statewide, existing home sales rose year-over-year for the 10th consecutive month, posting a 28 percent sales increase with 15,850 homes sold, compared to 12,339 homes sold in June 2008, FAR reported.
Strong year-over-year sales volume gains were also noted in June for Fort Myers, with 137 percent; Ocala, with 63 percent; Miami, with 54 percent; Orlando, with 38 percent; Fort Pierce, with 27 percent, and St. Petersburg, with 21 percent.
The Jacksonville metro area came in fourth in the state in total sales, behind Fort Myers, Orlando and St. Petersburg.
Across the country, sales of existing homes rose for the third consecutive month in June, according to the National Association of Realtors. That supported Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s recent comment that the worst housing downturn in 80 years appears to be leveling off, Bloomberg News reported.
Nationally, home purchases climbed 3.6 percent to 4.89 million units in June from 4.72 million in May, NAR said. And that news helped propel the Dow Jones industrials to their first close above 9,000 since January on Thursday, the Associated Press reported.
kevin.turner@jacksonville.com,
(904) 359-4609
http://www.jacksonville.com/business/2009-07-23/story/home_sales_spike_by_16_percent_in_jacksonville_area
Until there is a great demand, this type of article fits the existing "News" discussion board.
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/forum/index.php/board,11.0.html
Quote from: thelakelander on July 25, 2009, 09:33:44 AM
Until there is a great demand, this type of article fits the existing "News" discussion board.
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/forum/index.php/board,11.0.html
I find it difficult to fanthom that during the biggest recession of our life times, there is no demand to discuss local economic conditions.......
Please discuss further and reconsider such a forum topic. Thanks, Faye.