Year of recovery: 2012


  • By
  • | 11:00 a.m. February 25, 2012
  • Palm Coast Observer
  • Opinion
  • Share

The number of homes sold and the total dollar value of transactions have been rising since 2008, but until prices begin to rise again, nobody will be convinced that the bottom is behind us. I think 2012 will be the year for price recovery.

In January, 116 single-family homes were sold through the Multiple Listing Service in Flagler County, 48.7% more than January 2011. January was the ninth consecutive year-over-year monthly increase. Home sales have been recovering slowly since January 2008, when only 51 homes were sold.

The value of all January single-family home sales exceeded $17 million, up $3.45 million from January 2011. This represents about $200,000 more in commission to feed the families and cover the expenses of Flagler’s real estate practitioners. Tied closely to homes sold, total sales also hit bottom in January 2008. Both measures respond to seasonal fluctuations, but both have been climbing slowly since. The rate of increase has begun to pick up.

In January, 57.9% of all home sales were distressed properties, which decreases the median price. See the box on this page to compare the price range of distressed and non-distressed homes. Interestingly, cash sales were not limited to distressed sales.

The selling mix has shifted year-over-year. Short sales dropped from 32.1% of all sales to 27.6%. At the same time, lender-owned sales rose from 21.8% to 30.2%. The shift in selling mix accounts, in part, for the drop in median selling price.

February is off to a strong start. There’s a good chance median price will be up for the first time since October 2006.

I think that 2012 will go down as the turnaround year for our housing market.

 

 

Latest News

×

Your free article limit has been reached this month.
Subscribe now for unlimited digital access to our award-winning local news.