The Florida Single Family Home Market in July

THE SINGLE FAMILY HOME MARKET

After the party comes the after-party. Or the hang-over.

And as so often, that’s the case here with July housing numbers. No wonder: June sales stats (for single family homes only; condos and townhomes are not subject of this column) were exceptional, while in July the general public experienced a congressional budget debate that was without precedence, tainted by obstructionism, vitriolic language and general nastiness. Consumers’ approval of Congress promptly dove way below 14 percent. Serves ‘em right.

But if that wasn’t enough, while politicians were slinging mud or worse, unemployment in South-East Florida didn’t budge. That sapped the will to sign on the dotted line from a large contingent of home buyers, especially those who have to face lenders.

Yes, those same lenders who would have given a mortgage to our Scottish Terriers a short while ago, and who now behave like a virgin facing a room full of gang-bangers. Who wants to buy a home under these conditions? Low rates alone don't cut it, friends.

If only sellers had noticed. They sure didn’t in July: while all median list prices went up a notch, median list prices of homes that actually sold plummeted nearly 10 percent, median selling prices went down more than 4 percent, and the numbers of houses that sold just tanked. A wake up call? We’ll see.

The July numbers:

• Houses for sale: 20,828 (-2.3%)
• Inventory: 7.0 months (+14.6%)
• Median list price: $298,000 (+1.7%)
• Median list price per sf: $142 (no change)
  
• Houses sold last month: 3,128 (-11.5%)
• Median selling price: $183,333 (-4.5%)
• Median selling price per sf: $100 (-1.6%)

Table: all regional single family homes for sale/sold; data per last month’s end. Changes are month-over-month. – Chart: SFH data July 2010 to July 2011. Red: median list price, green: median selling price, blue: inventory in months. – Data source: SEF-MLS


THE MODERN HOME MARKET

In case you are as modernist-crazed as I am, love stats and were looking forward to the newest market data for modern architecture: sorry, but no mas. At least not here.

What happened?

Simple: prospective consulting clients, a builder couple, approached me to assist them breaking into the South Florida market for modern homes. Part of the deal would have been my extensive modern-market statistics, going back at least six years. You know: past and present selling prices for modern architecture, which price ranges sell best, in which locations, in which towns, at what prices per square feet, with what type of amenities, etc.

But for free.

That didn’t work for me as you can imagine. I am surely not going to give proprietary and valuable data away, not on this website nor in any other form.

I apologize to my three monthly regulars, but from now on, I will not publicize monthly modern market statistics anymore. The data is available to clients though, and if you are interested, please contact me. Sorry!

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