WELCOME - and DECEMBER MARKET DATA

WELCOME

to all new readers and to all regulars from my ModernSouthFlorida-blog.

I moved the blog over to this site since keeping the two sites – blog and website – under one roof makes much more sense then in two different houses. A bit like two teenagers: easier to keep them in line and on track.

As soon as there is a blog-import feature by this site's host (spring 2011), all previous bog-posts will be moved over here. Until then, you can read them here.

So off we go, with the riveting December market statistics for homes in the Southeast Florida market:


THE OVERALL HOUSE MARKET

Single family home numbers for December are rather tame (or lame), after a little bit of a firework in early and mid-summer last year.

Highest median selling prices in 2010 were recorded in March at $210,233. That is 11 percent above year's close, which itself was nearly the same as the median January selling price.

Median asking prices last year dropped by 15 percent, and the end may not be here yet. Inventory fluctuated between 9 and 14 months, ending in December at 9 months with 26,826 homes for sale, but a strong absorption of 2,977 houses.

(SFH data Jan 2010 to Dec 2010. Red: median list price, green: median selling price, blue: inventory in months. Data source: SEF-MLS)

THE MODERN HOMES MARKET

An interesting development continues in the market* for modern homes - it moves around like a pesky mosquito:

• sellers becoming more realistic, asking prices head slightly downwards, plus lots of price reductions
  
• selling prices (per modernist home and per sf) are increasing
  
• a decline in modern home inventory (much more pronounced at the end of January, down to ca. 280 homes for sale so far)
• an increase of 26 percent (!) of the total Dollar volume for sale since April 2010, pointing to a definite shift towards the high end.

As a result, lower-priced modern homes (under ca. $1.5m) don't stay on the market for long.

Questions, comments? I'd love to hear from you!

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(*Please remember that these data are for observed sales only, but still, they continue a trend observed for several months now).