Things are looking up for sellers and homeowners in the Treasure Coast real estate market for Martin, St Lucie, Indian, and Palm Beach counties. And by up, we mean the prices of homes in the region. So much so that the prices for homes in South Florida rose 16.5% in November from a year ago.
This isn’t good news for the real estate buyer looking for their next home purchase. Couple this with the increasing mortgage interest rates, and you have more troubling news for for buyers.
However, one good sign for home buyers is the number of single-family homes available are rising in attempt to meet demands.
Treasure Coast Real Estate is finding its way!
December showed that the market is trying to stabilize and find that equilibrium. Yet, condominiums and townhomes on the Treasure Coast market have decreased in numbers since a year ago. All in all, the price increase has helped owners from continuing to be under water, and the result is less short sales. That didn’t stop banks from repossessing homes already in the foreclosure process. This increased throughout the region…a good sign for investors.
The increase in home pricing is a percentage rate index used to measure home prices in South Florida. But sorry condo owners, this index rate does not include prices for condominiums. It’s tracked by the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller index. In fact, this is the 22nd consecutive month with a year-over-year increase of home price gains for Palm Beach, Martin, St Lucie, Indian and Broward counties.
“Combined with low inflation — 1.5 percent in 2013 – homeowners are enjoying real appreciation and rising equity values,” David M. Blitzer, chairman of the index committee for Standard & Poor’s, said in a statement. “While housing will make further contributions to the economy in 2014, the pace of price gains is likely to slow during the year.” The index, released on the last Tuesday of each month, follows the values of the same house over time.
Even with all this, Palm Beach County real estate ended the 2013 year on a great upswing with growing home sales in December and prices that surged 15 percent from the previous year. Prices typically increase as more buyers are in a bidding war. the supply and demand are currently trying to find a middle ground. Right now, the prices are increasing because the homeowner is trying to let the buyers dual it out. Case in point, the median sales price for a single-family home last month hit $265,000, tying with the year’s peak price seen during the spring buying season in April, according to a report released Thursday by the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches.
