Looks like 2020 is off to a good start for Florida real estate.
The latest report from Florida Realtors shows more closed sales, higher median prices, more pending sales and higher pending inventory in January as compared to a year ago.
Sales of single-family homes statewide were up 17.9 percent year over year, while statewide median sales prices for both single-family homes and condo-townhouse properties rose 6 percent to $265,000 year over year, marking the 97th consecutive month of rising prices. Sales of condo-townhomes totaled 7,714, up 14.5 percent year over year.
“Many of the same market conditions we saw over the past few months — like favorable mortgage rates, buyer demand and low inventories — have continued into 2020,” said Florida Realtors President Barry Grooms. “Lack of inventory continues to put pressure on home prices. However, new pending sales increased 12.4 percent for single-family existing homes last month, and new pending sales for condo-townhouse units rose 14.3 percent.”
Low interest rates — averaging 3.62 percent in January 2020 — are fueling the increases, according to Florida Realtors Chief Economist Dr. Brad O’Connor. But he also noted another factor that puts this month’s numbers into important context: “Part of these January year-over-year increases [are] due to January 2019 being fairly weak in terms of sales. Back then the stock market had been undergoing some major fluctuations and we were in the midst of a federal government shutdown. Mortgage rates were only really beginning to fall at that point, so they were not yet benefiting buyers who were closing at that time.”
Inventory of single-family homes at the end of January was down 16.4 percent year over year, while condo and townhome inventory was down 11.7 percent.
“Coupled with the median sale price gains we saw in December, this is some of the hottest price growth we’ve seen in either property type category in quite a while,” O’Connor said. “Statewide inventory levels are up a bit from last month, which is normal for January, but they continue to trend downward overall.”