Florida Real Estate: Impressive Year Over Gains

A recent report by Florida Realtors reports that Florida’s pending sales, median home price and closed sales all increased in the month of October. Real estate closings for existing home sales were up 25.3% from a year ago and totaled 17,779 transactions. Florida boasted a median sales price for existing homes of $184,300 in September which is up 11.4% from this time last year, according to the National Association of Realtors. This is actually higher than the national average. 

The President of Florida Realtors, Summer Greene, reported that the state’s unemployment rate fell to the lowest it has been in four years! This coupled with the increases in pending homes sales, closings and prices will bring an even brighter outlook to the real estate market in Florida. Condo sales saw a year over increase of 16.4% and a median price of $107,000, which is also up 20.2% from a year ago. 

On a national level, housing starts experienced a 3.6% uptick as well, reported by the US Census Bureau. This may seem like a small percentage, but when you look at this time compared to last year, it is up 33.6%! Builder confidence still remains higher than previous months, as we can expect to see the number of newly constructed homes continue to rise and create a healthy balance between the supply and demand curve. Dr. John Tuccillo, chief economist of Florida Realtors stated, “As impressive as the year-over-year gains for October are, far more impressive are year-to-date gains of 2012 over 2011. They indicate the depth and resilience of this recovery.”

SI Real Estate offers highly personalized, multilingual, full-spectrum real estate purchase and sales services. We are a boutique for sophisticated investors, select owners or renters who may be upgrading locally, or those making traditional relocations. We also provide turnkey landlord and tenant management. Blending comprehensive insight into the Tampa Bay area with international perspectives for a worldwide clientele, we like to think that “SI Real Estate is Global Real Estate in Every Way!”

Read More

New Home Building Data: Good News for All

A report by the Commerce Department showed that the rate at which builders started new construction on single family homes and apartments was the highest last month than it has been in four years. Plans for continued building are set at an even higher rate than we have recently seen, a clear sign of buyers taking advantage of record low mortgage rates, low inventory and builder confidence on the rise.

Not only is this good for the real estate market in general, but new home construction creates jobs which is essential in today’s economy.

In the last two months we have seen a fifteen percent increase in new construction. About two thirds of this increase deals with single family homes while the other portion is made up of apartment homes. This coupled with a twelve percent increase in building permits shows that there are no plans of slowing down anytime soon. Homebuilder stocks saw am increase as a result of the increase in permits and plans to keep building. The National Association of Home Builders reports that this new construction data pushes home builder confidence up to a six- year high, and is consistent with this year’s continual up-ward tick. Some people may ask just how much of an impact does this have on our economy. Economists from the home builders group estimate that with each new home built, creates an average of three new jobs and about ninety thousand in tax revenue.

New home sales are up twenty eight percent from this time last year. Many buyers are attracted to home builder’s warranties, higher energy efficiency standards, and a general feeling of more home for their dollar. The Florida market is part of plans for Toll Brothers Construction to continue building luxury homes in and around the coastal regions.

SI Real Estate offers highly personalized, multilingual, full-spectrum real estate purchase and sales services. We are a boutique for sophisticated investors, select owners or renters who may be upgrading locally, or those making traditional relocations. We also provide turnkey landlord and tenant management. Blending comprehensive insight into the Tampa Bay area with international perspectives for a worldwide clientele, we like to think that “SI Real Estate is Global Real Estate in Every Way!”

Read More