Driving around the Palm Beach County area I see new construction of custom homes, multi family homes, commercial properties. Dirt that hasn't been worked for years is being turned over, literally being tilled and or sold for development.
Its exciting because the Spring is bringing economic growth and jobs at least in Palm Beach County.
The Good News
Quote from NAR article " ORLANDO, Fla. – March 21, 2012 – Pending sales and median prices rose, while the inventory of homes for sale dropped in Florida’s housing market in February, according to the latest housing data released by Florida Realtors®."
"March 29, 2012 – Sales of investment and vacation homes jumped in 2011, with the combined market share rising to the highest level since 2005, according to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR).
NAR’s 2012 Investment and Vacation Home Buyers Survey, covering existing- and new-home transactions in 2011, shows investment-home sales surged 64.5 percent to 1.23 million last year from 749,000 in 2010. Vacation-home sales rose 7.0 percent to 502,000 in 2011 from 469,000 in 2010. "
The Not So Bad News
"March 21, 2012 – February existing-home sales declined from an upwardly revised January pace but are well above a year ago, while the median price posted a slight gain, according to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR). Sales were up in the Midwest and South, offset by declines in the Northeast and West.
"Total housing inventory at the end of February rose 4.3 percent to 2.43 million existing homes available for sale, which represents a 6.4-month supply at the current sales pace, up from a 6.0-month supply in January. Even so, unsold listed inventory has trended down from a record 4.04 million in July 2007, and is 19.3 percent below a year ago."
NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said underlying factors are much better compared to one year ago. “The market is trending up unevenly, with record high consumer buying power and sustained job gains giving buyers the confidence they need to get into the market,”
“Falling visible and shadow inventory, combined with a dearth of new-home and apartment construction during the past three years, assure that rents will continue to rise, with likely home price increases in 2012,” Yun said.
IMO-All in all Florida continues its move in the right direction, signs of our improving housing market can be found just about everywhere. If your thinking of buying a home for primary, secondary or investment there is no time like the present, every day you wait may represent as missed opportunity. As more and more people begin to believe that this is the beginning of the end of the housing recession the price of homes will start to appreciate on a regular basis and what that means to potential buyers is the longer you wait the more you will pay.
