May Sales Results: Wake Me Up When Something Happens
I sure wish I had something earth-shattering to report for May, but if you look at the statistics it was simply a ho-hum, same-ol'-same-ol', boring month. A real snoozer, if ever there was one.
The Abosrption Rate (AR) reflects the mundane sales record posted in May. As you know, the Absorption Rate is the inventory turn. It is calculated by dividing the number of units sold in the month by the number of listings in the Multiple Listing Service (MLS).
For single family homes, the AR for May was 6.6%. In April it was 6.7%. In March it was 6.1%. So, nothing much is happening that points toward an improved real estate market for the last three months. Just for fun and to make a quick comparison, the single family home AR for May 2005 was 52.8%. Let's hear it for the good ol' days.
Not to be outdone on the snooze-meter, condos showed similarly boring figures. For May, the AR was 4.2%. It was 3.8% in April and 4.2% for March. In May 2005 it stood at a much more lively 51.5%.
During May there were 9,102 single family homes on the market. This is down a bit from April's 9,175 and way down from March's market high in listings of 11,226. I still maintain that the difference between March's listing count and where we are today is due to sellers simply taking properties off the market until they feel things have improved and they have a better chance of selling in a reasonable time and closer to their hoped-for price.
Sales figures tend to support my theory of properties being taken off the market. Sales are not strong enough to have warranted such a large reduction in listed properties. During May, only 602 single family homes were sold in Pinellas County, in April only 615 were sold, and in March just 687 sales were posted. Clearly this lackluster sales activity would not cause a drop of over 2,000 listings in 30 days from March to April. It has to be caused by fewer sellers keeping properties on the market. By the way, just for the fun of it I checked and sales in May of 2005 were 1,439 homes sold but there were only 2,727 properties listed at that time, thus the impressive AR for that month.
Condo listings decreased a little in May to 9,066 units listed. In April there had been 9,280 units listed which represented a big jump over the number of listings in March, 7,278. In May, 2005 there were only 1,453 condos listed.
Condo sales increased somewhat during May and have increased slowly each month. In May there were 378 condos sold, in April there were 355 sales and in March 309. At that rate of increase, I wonder how many months it will take to reach the May 2005 sales figure of 748 condo sales. Quite a long time, I think.
Median prices continued to bounce around for both single family homes and condos. For single family homes, the median for May was $206,000. It was $212,500 in April and an even $200,000 for March. Oh, by the way, the median price for May 2005 when the market was near its peak was $243,800.
The median price for condos dropped significantly for May as compared to April. In May it was $169,500, but in April it stood at $177,900. Quite a drop in 30 days. In March it was $175,000. In May 2005 the median was $155,000 -- so condos today are selling for more than they did back in the day.
All-in-all, a pretty slow month with not much to brag about unless you were one of the few owners who managed to get his property sold, or a real estate agent who somehow found the luck to earn a paycheck in May. Still, I am reminded that this is a "market correction" that has not yet run its course, that the legislature is still tweaking with property tax reforms, that the market has not yet "bottomed-out", that insurance premiums are still too high, that it's the hurricane season, that mortgage interest rates are rising, that sellers are getting desparate, that buyers are afraid prices will drop still lower, that we've overbuilt condos and still more are planned ... gadzooks, how does anybody predict what's going to happen in a market like this? Sure is exciting, though, isn't it?
For more information on real estate in the Tampa Bay area, visit my website at www.TheStPeteRealEstateSite.com.
The Abosrption Rate (AR) reflects the mundane sales record posted in May. As you know, the Absorption Rate is the inventory turn. It is calculated by dividing the number of units sold in the month by the number of listings in the Multiple Listing Service (MLS).
For single family homes, the AR for May was 6.6%. In April it was 6.7%. In March it was 6.1%. So, nothing much is happening that points toward an improved real estate market for the last three months. Just for fun and to make a quick comparison, the single family home AR for May 2005 was 52.8%. Let's hear it for the good ol' days.
Not to be outdone on the snooze-meter, condos showed similarly boring figures. For May, the AR was 4.2%. It was 3.8% in April and 4.2% for March. In May 2005 it stood at a much more lively 51.5%.
During May there were 9,102 single family homes on the market. This is down a bit from April's 9,175 and way down from March's market high in listings of 11,226. I still maintain that the difference between March's listing count and where we are today is due to sellers simply taking properties off the market until they feel things have improved and they have a better chance of selling in a reasonable time and closer to their hoped-for price.
Sales figures tend to support my theory of properties being taken off the market. Sales are not strong enough to have warranted such a large reduction in listed properties. During May, only 602 single family homes were sold in Pinellas County, in April only 615 were sold, and in March just 687 sales were posted. Clearly this lackluster sales activity would not cause a drop of over 2,000 listings in 30 days from March to April. It has to be caused by fewer sellers keeping properties on the market. By the way, just for the fun of it I checked and sales in May of 2005 were 1,439 homes sold but there were only 2,727 properties listed at that time, thus the impressive AR for that month.
Condo listings decreased a little in May to 9,066 units listed. In April there had been 9,280 units listed which represented a big jump over the number of listings in March, 7,278. In May, 2005 there were only 1,453 condos listed.
Condo sales increased somewhat during May and have increased slowly each month. In May there were 378 condos sold, in April there were 355 sales and in March 309. At that rate of increase, I wonder how many months it will take to reach the May 2005 sales figure of 748 condo sales. Quite a long time, I think.
Median prices continued to bounce around for both single family homes and condos. For single family homes, the median for May was $206,000. It was $212,500 in April and an even $200,000 for March. Oh, by the way, the median price for May 2005 when the market was near its peak was $243,800.
The median price for condos dropped significantly for May as compared to April. In May it was $169,500, but in April it stood at $177,900. Quite a drop in 30 days. In March it was $175,000. In May 2005 the median was $155,000 -- so condos today are selling for more than they did back in the day.
All-in-all, a pretty slow month with not much to brag about unless you were one of the few owners who managed to get his property sold, or a real estate agent who somehow found the luck to earn a paycheck in May. Still, I am reminded that this is a "market correction" that has not yet run its course, that the legislature is still tweaking with property tax reforms, that the market has not yet "bottomed-out", that insurance premiums are still too high, that it's the hurricane season, that mortgage interest rates are rising, that sellers are getting desparate, that buyers are afraid prices will drop still lower, that we've overbuilt condos and still more are planned ... gadzooks, how does anybody predict what's going to happen in a market like this? Sure is exciting, though, isn't it?
For more information on real estate in the Tampa Bay area, visit my website at www.TheStPeteRealEstateSite.com.
-30-
posted by Terry Ward at 3:49 AM
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