The pending sales in October are up 79% over last year, but that is misleading unless you put into context what the market was like last October. If you remember, the country was experiencing a financial market meltdown. The pending sales are good and improving every month. August pending sales were 1, 479, September was 1,535 and October was 1,729. That is a terrific trend.

The prices of homes in Northeast Florida seem to be stabilizing. The median sales price for August, September, and October were $149,900, $145,000, and $146,000. The average prices for the same months were $179,411, $175,108 and $179,205. The year to date average sales price is down about 20% from last year.

The inventory of homes available continues to decline, which is a good sign. The supply of inventory available is 11.5 months down from 12.5 months in September.

The number of closings for homes in St. Augustine in the 32092 zip code was up slightly from September; however the price per square foot was down slightly. I believe we will continue to see some ups and downs for several months to come, but it appears that overall the trends are positive.