Over the past few months, real estate inventory has been flirting with five-year lows for single family housing, townhomes and condos, giving Realtors a call to action to convince their clients to put their property up for sale.
“With a healthy housing market in place and low supply of inventory, our Realtors have been informing clients that this is the best time to put their house on the market,” said Tim Harris, president of the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches. “Their clients are listening, too. Palm Beach County just hit a five-year high for new listings in the single-family housing market”
Property owners continue to be actively engaged in the market. Median sale prices are at five-year highs for townhouses and condos at $118,500. Last October, the median sale price was only $91,100. That’s a difference of $27,400, or a 30.1 percent increase. Single family median sale prices are just shy of their five-year highs at $253,000. Year over year, that’s a 14.4 percent jump.
With owners able to ask more for their property, they are also seeing the highest percent of original listing price in the past five years. Compared to last year, that’s a 3.6 percent increase for single-family homes and a 1.9 percent increase for townhouses and condos.
Even better, property owners typically don’t have to wait long to see these types of returns once they put their house on the market. The median days on the market for single-family homes, townhouses and condos are just over a month and a half.
With growing consumer confidence and Realtor’s guidance, the market is slowly finding its equilibrium. Inventory is slowly climbing higher, with closed sales near five-year highs, property appreciating and houses staying on the market for a shorter amount of time. Many Realtors anticipate that a balanced market will bring conditions more favorable for the average buyer.
“Investors are a big reason why the inventory is so low, and they are now starting to buy fewer properties because of rising prices. 2014 will continue to provide reasonable prices for housing, low interest rates and higher inventory, which should lead to a stronger economy,” said Myles Minns, owner of Continental Properties.
“It is still a market that both sellers and buyers can be successful,” added Bill Richardson of Keyes Realty. “Buyers need to understand that the deep discounts aren’t there anymore. Sellers need to know that they’re not back at 2005 numbers.”
According to industry experts, one of the biggest factors that could hurt the real estate market in 2014 is interest rate hikes. Keep a close eye on the Federal Reserve in the years to come to anticipate when those increases could occur.
For more information about the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches and the real estate market, visit www.rapb.com.
