Florida is one of the states hit very hard by residential foreclosures. We had over 13,000 foreclosure filings in the Seventh Circuit Court (for Flagler, St. Johns, Putnam and Volusia Counties) in 2008 and over 16,000 filings in 2009.
A task force was formed to address the crises and they identified lack of communication between the parties as the most significant issue. The Florida Supreme Court addressed this issue by requiring mediation in all foreclosure cases involving homestead property unless the parties agree otherwise or have already participated in mediation.
The mediation will be handled by a Florida Supreme Court certified mediator appointed by the Court. The costs of the mediation will be paid by the lender and the total cost may not exceed $750. The plaintiff (lender) must have a representative who has full authority to settle at the mediation but they may appear by telephone or other electronic method. (more…)
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If you have been reading my market analysis for the last few months, you probably think you can skip this one because I have been saying the same thing over and over. Well this month brings a few surprises.
My first surprise is that closed sales for January 2010 were about 40% less than December 2009. There were 1,316 closings in November, 1,365 in December and 834 in January.
This looks like very negative news, but I believe the reason for the decline in closings was mainly due to short sales. We saw lenders approving and closing short sales in December to get them closed by year end. Maybe the holidays were also a factor, but we did not see any short sales making it through the process in January. (more…)
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I have to admit I am not sorry that 2010 has arrived and 2009 is behind us. I do believe the worst is over for real estate in St. Augustine, FL.
The Northeast Florida Association of Realtors market statistics show we had more closings and pending sales in 2009 than in 2008. We had 14% more closings with a total of 14,381 and 25% more pending sales for the year with 15,836.
The prices continued to drop during 2009. The median price for the year 2009 was down 15%. The average price for 2009 was down 19%. The December average and median price did drop slightly from the November numbers, but I still say the prices are stabilizing in our homes in St. Augustine.
I looked at the data for the 32092 zip code which includes World Golf Village and the surrounding communities. The activity for 2008 and 2009 was about the same. There were 596 transactions for 2009.The average price for homes in the 32092 zip code was $233,370 which was approximately a 16% decrease from 2008. There has been about a 30% decrease in average sales price since the peak of the market in 2006. (more…)
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The positive trends that we have seen in the Northeast Florida real estate market are continuing.
• Pending sales and closed sales for September, 2009 have increased over the previous month and the previous year.
• The inventory of homes in Jacksonville, FL is down from last month and last year.
• Prices of homes in Jacksonville, FL are down slightly from last month but the change is much smaller than we have seen in past months.
• Prices of homes in St. Augustine in the 32092 zip code have increased slightly. The 32092 zip code includes World Golf Village, Murabella, Sevilla, St. Johns Golf and Country Club, South Hampton and many more. The average sales price in 32092 was $179,860 in the first quarter of 2009, $206,254 in the second quarter, and $217,893 in the third quarter.
There is also good news to report regarding short sales. We are handling many short sales and they are complicated and frustrating; however, the process is improving over what we have experienced in the last couple of years.
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How is the real estate market? I hear this question a lot. My answer lately has been that activity is up dramatically, but prices are not. Here are three trends that I like to watch.
1. Inventory levels
The number of active listings in the Northeast Florida Multiple Listing Service continues to decline. There are 14,945 properties for sale in August 2009 compared to 18,326 in August 2008. There are 18% less properties for sale. The months supply of inventory dropped from 17.1 months in August 2008 to 12.6 months in August 2009. Six months of inventory is when the market is most balanced.
2. Pending Sales
The pending sales in August 2009 are up 48% over August 2008. We have seen a large increase in the number of buyers looking for a home and the contracts that are being written.
3. Prices
The median sales price is down 17% from last year and 25% from two years (more…)
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