Buyer's Market

With a plentiful inventory of homes for sale in most of the nation, buyers will head into the spring selling season – typically the busiest time of the year – with lots of choices and bargaining power. In some markets, real estate associates say buyer traffic has picked up in the last month or two.

Housing Sales

Florida’s housing market mirrored the national trend in 2006, with sales of existing single-family homes slowing to a more sustainable pace following a five-year run of record closings. By year’s end, a total of 180,037 homes changed hands statewide for a 28 percent decrease compared to the 248,575 homes sold in 2005, according to the Florida Association of Realtors® (FAR). At the same time, 2006 sales figures made it into the record books for several markets around the state; 2006 also is expected to be the third highest sales year on record nationally, according to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR).

FSBOS

FEWER GOING IT ALONE. NAR reports a drop in the number of for-sale-by-owner (FSBO) transactions to 12 percent of all sales today from 18 percent in 1997. NAR spokesman Walter Molony says property owners believe agents are better equipped to achieve fast sales at top dollar in a slow market, adding that the median price for agent-assisted transactions was about 16 percent higher than FSBO sales last year. Molony notes that agents orchestrate showings, handle paperwork and identify serious buyers for sellers – who often lack the time or experience necessary to complete such tasks. NAR's 2006 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers shows that 5 percent of sales from mid-2005 to mid-2006 involved FSBO sellers turning to an agent, with only 1 percent of sales involving sellers who abandoned their agents to go it alone. Source: Investor's Business Daily (01/19/07) P. A8; Kelly, Brad© Copyright 2007 INFORMATION, INC. Bethesda, MD

Sales up for December/January

The number of homes closed from 12-15-06 thru 1-21-07 doubled from the prior month and were up to 2,799 for homes priced under 1 million dollars. Pending sales also increased. There are 4,148 homes scheduled to close in the next 60 days.

Insurance resolution in the works

A series of homeowners’ insurance bills promising meaningful rate rollbacks are expected to hit the floors of both legislative chambers today as lawmakers dive into Day 2 of a weeklong special session. The Senate is advocating a state-backed “super reinsurance pool” that would cap insurers’ exposure in megastorms. The House’s skepticism about Citizens was pervasive. On Tuesday afternoon, a House council approved a bill from Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, that would wipe out the public-private company’s board of directors, to be replaced with appointees by the new House speaker, Senate president and governor.

Florida's Growth

Florida continues to have the fastest job growth rate and lowest unemployment rate of the ten most populous states, with 27,200 jobs created in Tampa from October 2005 to October 2006. This represents a job growth rate of 2.1%, compared to a national job growth rate of 1.5% for the same period, according to the report.

On Thursday, the National Association of Realtors reported that its index of signed purchase agreements fell 0.5% – a third consecutive decline – to 107 from 107.5 in October. The index was down 11.4% from November 2005. The silver lining is that the decline from the previous year has been narrowing since July, suggesting sales could be stabilizing.

Insurance reductions???

This article came through Planet Realtor. Hopefully this will be the start of Insurance and Tax reform to keep our state growing. The first test for Florida Gov. Charlie Crist comes in less than two weeks, when the Legislature meets for a four-day special session on windstorm insurance. Crist says he won't be satisfied until a solution that lowers rates is found -- a statement that has raised Floridians' expectations by predicting greater results than those suggested by House and Senate leaders.Read the full story:http://www.floridarealtors.org/NewsAndEvents/n1-010407.cfm