November Was Not The Worst Month In 2007 For Real Estate Sales -- But It Was Close
No matter what you read in the paper, no matter what some real estate experts say, no matter what your brother-in-law says he heard from a "reliable source", November was not a good month for real estate in Pinellas County.
It was not the worst month. It was the second worst month.
As usual we will first look at the Absorption Rate (AR) for the month. This is the inventory turn, and as you know it is calculated by dividing the number of listings in the month by the number of monthly sales.
Single Family Homes. The AR for single family homes in Pinellas County was a dismal 4.4-percent in November. That is the second worst month so far this year. By comparison, October's AR was 5.2-percent and September's was 4.8-percent.
Condo AR. Condominiums also posted the second worst month for sales. The November AR for condos was 3.0-percent -- that's just horrible. It was at 3.4-percent in October and 3.1-percent in September. Seems like pre-owned condos have lost all their luster and the market for them is flat and virtually non-existent.
Single Family Sales And Listings. The actual number of sales for single family homes in November was the lowest number this year. Only 407 single family homes were sold in Pinellas during the month. October saw 484 homes sold, while 442 were sold in September. Additionally, the median selling price fell from $212,000 in October to $185,000 in November. This means one of two things: either prices are falling or people are buying less expensive homes (or maybe a bit of both, I guess).
Single family home listings remained about the same as the last two months. There were 9,181 single family homes in the MLS system in November as compared to 9,228 in October and 9,233 in September. Not much movement there.
Condo Listings And Sales. In November there were 8,325 condos listed in the MLS system. In October that listing figure stood at 8,270 and in September there were 8,527 units in MLS. The differences in those listing figures are most likely more the result of people putting condos on the market while others take condos off the market than because of sales activity.
The proof of that is in the sales figures. In November, only 250 condos were sold. That's down from the 283 condo sales in October and the 267 which were sold in September. There just are not enough condo sales to really have an impact on the number of listings in the MLS from month to month. Maybe condo sales will increase as the winter buying season comes our way. Both the Canadian dollar and the Euro are in a positive position against the dollar now, so maybe some condo buyers will take advantage of exchange rates and buy some condos here. Let's keep our fingers crossed on that.
Here's something else: Just like single family homes, the median price for condos took a big dip in November, falling from a median of $180,700 in October to November's $150,000. That's over a $30,000 drop in median price in 30 days. I'm hoping that the drop in median prices reflect sellers lowering their asking prices and accepting lower offers from buyers.
The St. Petersburg Times wrote an article on Sunday, December 9th, saying that if sellers want to get their property sold quickly they need to drop the price. It's as simple as that. This is an exceptionally price sensitive market right now. Properties will sell -- and apparently sell quickly -- if they represent a good value. If they are not a good value, buyers will ignore the property and it will sit unsold. Sellers need to accept this pricing strategy and get asking prices down to absolute rock bottom. How far is down? Try looking at prices from 2000 to 2002 -- that's probably about where prices need to be today. I think that's the mindset for most buyers.
For more information about real estate in Pinellas County, visit my website at http://www.thestpeterealestatesite.com/.
It was not the worst month. It was the second worst month.
As usual we will first look at the Absorption Rate (AR) for the month. This is the inventory turn, and as you know it is calculated by dividing the number of listings in the month by the number of monthly sales.
Single Family Homes. The AR for single family homes in Pinellas County was a dismal 4.4-percent in November. That is the second worst month so far this year. By comparison, October's AR was 5.2-percent and September's was 4.8-percent.
Condo AR. Condominiums also posted the second worst month for sales. The November AR for condos was 3.0-percent -- that's just horrible. It was at 3.4-percent in October and 3.1-percent in September. Seems like pre-owned condos have lost all their luster and the market for them is flat and virtually non-existent.
Single Family Sales And Listings. The actual number of sales for single family homes in November was the lowest number this year. Only 407 single family homes were sold in Pinellas during the month. October saw 484 homes sold, while 442 were sold in September. Additionally, the median selling price fell from $212,000 in October to $185,000 in November. This means one of two things: either prices are falling or people are buying less expensive homes (or maybe a bit of both, I guess).
Single family home listings remained about the same as the last two months. There were 9,181 single family homes in the MLS system in November as compared to 9,228 in October and 9,233 in September. Not much movement there.
Condo Listings And Sales. In November there were 8,325 condos listed in the MLS system. In October that listing figure stood at 8,270 and in September there were 8,527 units in MLS. The differences in those listing figures are most likely more the result of people putting condos on the market while others take condos off the market than because of sales activity.
The proof of that is in the sales figures. In November, only 250 condos were sold. That's down from the 283 condo sales in October and the 267 which were sold in September. There just are not enough condo sales to really have an impact on the number of listings in the MLS from month to month. Maybe condo sales will increase as the winter buying season comes our way. Both the Canadian dollar and the Euro are in a positive position against the dollar now, so maybe some condo buyers will take advantage of exchange rates and buy some condos here. Let's keep our fingers crossed on that.
Here's something else: Just like single family homes, the median price for condos took a big dip in November, falling from a median of $180,700 in October to November's $150,000. That's over a $30,000 drop in median price in 30 days. I'm hoping that the drop in median prices reflect sellers lowering their asking prices and accepting lower offers from buyers.
The St. Petersburg Times wrote an article on Sunday, December 9th, saying that if sellers want to get their property sold quickly they need to drop the price. It's as simple as that. This is an exceptionally price sensitive market right now. Properties will sell -- and apparently sell quickly -- if they represent a good value. If they are not a good value, buyers will ignore the property and it will sit unsold. Sellers need to accept this pricing strategy and get asking prices down to absolute rock bottom. How far is down? Try looking at prices from 2000 to 2002 -- that's probably about where prices need to be today. I think that's the mindset for most buyers.
For more information about real estate in Pinellas County, visit my website at http://www.thestpeterealestatesite.com/.
-30-
posted by Terry Ward at 4:00 AM
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