Real estate market headed in the right direction.
By: Alan Aptheker
Nationally, as in Jacksonville and the rest of Florida, 1) existing home sales drop, 2) prices continue to rise. What does this mean? Buy. The National Association of Realtors forecasts the price of existing-home price will rise about of five to six percent this year — as much as $12,000 on a $200,000 home.
What do higher prices really mean? Three things:
- Accelerated buying, with opportunities being seized because timing is everything.
- Existing homebuyers finding more equity on their home, and if their looking to move, more motivated than ever that they’ll get a great price.
- Mortgage rates inching higher: According to Freddie Mac, the rate for the 30-year loan increased to 4.37 percent from 4.33 percent in the first half of February.
Experts agree that the market has achieved some semblance of balance. Indeed, the only rain on the parade has been the weather. Even in sunny Florida, where stranded northerners had more trouble getting down here this winter to feed the market.
Churn is a good thing for just about everybody. Frankly, even
builders. FloridaRealtors.org reported higher average prices, more new home listings. They reported that statewide median sales price for
single-family homes in January was $162,500, up 12.1% percent from January 2013. Condos and townhomes spiked even higher: average price in January was $131,000, up 17 percent over the same period in 2013.
