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Linda Rawls
Home > Real Estate > Archives > 2006 > October > 05 > Entry
Prices still gaining, at twice national average
Depending on whether you’re buying or selling, this is either good news or not-so-good news: Home-price appreciation in Fl orida, though slowing, is still more than twice the national average, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
Home prices in Florida rose 21.3 percent in the second quarter of this year, compared with 6.2 percent nationwide, the FDIC said in a report released Thursday.
Appreciation has fallen for last two quarters from a high of 28 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, the report shows.
A year ago, the appreciation rate was 26 percent.
Home sales in Florida are declining, the FDIC says, mirroring monthly reports from the Florida Association of Realtors, whose most recent report showed declining sales in every metropolitan market in the state.
During the first half of this year, sales of single-family homes and condominiums declined 25.8 percent compared with the first half of 2005, the FDIC report said.
“Despite these declines, innovative mortgages have helped support real estate market activity and comprised 47 percent of 2006 securitized non-prime originations across the state,” the report said.
Year-over-year price gains in Florida for the second quarter were highest in the Lakeland area at 27 percent, the FDIC said.
Congress created the FDIC in 1933 to restore public confidence in the nation’s banking system. It promotes the safety of the nation’s 8,778 banks and savings institutions by monitoring risks they’re exposed to, and reports its findings in these quarterly reports.
Other highlights of the report:
Florida’s tourism indsutry, which employed 950,000 people last year, remains a critical part of the state’s economy. Visitors remained near record levels in early 2006, but higher fuel and airline ticket prices may prompt these gains to moderate the rest of this year.
Residential construction has slowed, with permits fown 20 percent in the second quarter, compared with the smae period last year.
Palm Beach County had the lowest second-quarter office vacancy rate in the state at 14 percent.
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By As we speak.......
October 5, 2006 08:07 PM | Link to this
Well, at least someone is reporting what i always say - “as we speak, the prices are going up”.
For those who are thinking of buying here, the time is now. This is of course if you have the money.
The bargin summer season is over, deals are gone and new listings have higher prices.
For my ladyfriend out there who can’t spell, or knows how to put together a sentence, you must be one bitter b***h!
I know it is not some guy who writes like that, it has to be a woman who dreams about me every night and has dirty thoughts. Take a cold shower honey, you are not in my league. I have a woman with class, something you don’t have.
Sorry, my properties are all paid for, i am not not selling, and enjoying the Florida life. Hope you didn’t forget to pay your mortgage payments, or are you a renter?
For the lady with the townhome in Boynton Beach, did you ever figure out the monthly expenses with your salary? I recommend nothing beyond 30% total in home expenses from a check. If the townhome was in Lauderdale, Delray or Jupiter, you would have a bigger return sooner.
Florida taxes, it is all controled by the local politicians. And we can’t do much with the insurance, unless we all drop our home policies in this state. So if you complain about those two expenses, then you can’t live here. You need to make more money at your job or start robbing banks. Just don’t sell drugs or use them, but from what i can tell from some of the bashers we have, it might be too late.
FLORIDA……just like NIKE….COKE…..IBM.. ….DISNEY…..NEW YORK YANKEES…all these terms connect with everyone around the world.
We had another beautiful day in paradise. How are all of you doing up north?
By Get in the Game
October 6, 2006 07:13 AM | Link to this
Let us at least keep the conversation, at a minimum, polite.
Please remember, in the end, not one of us maintains a “crystal ball” with forecasting knowledge of future underpinnings within the South Florida market.
Everyone has there hunches and guesses, some more “plugged in” and attune than others. Regardless, the market shall bear the correct equilibrium price, in the end.
So, again whether you pull your information from the IMF, the Associated Press, the WSJ, or the Federal Reserve let basic economics sort out price points.
In the interim, let’s treat others with respect and dignity.
Good Luck to All
By Anthony Watkins
October 10, 2006 07:56 AM | Link to this
Dear Linda, I relocated from the Treasure Coast to downtown West Palm Beach about a year and half ago. I plan to stay in West Palm Beach for many years, but the Insurance/Property Tax squeeze equal to 1/3rd of my current mortgage is making me keep an eye on the local real estate market. Of course I can browse the paper or any of several online real estate listings to get an idea of what local properties are being listed, but I miss a feature that we had in a local paper in there. They ran recent sales and sale prices for homes. Is there a reason the Post does not do this? And is there any chance they might start? Thanks, Anthony Watkins
By Kevin@WestPalmCondo.com
October 17, 2006 07:03 PM | Link to this
Economists say housing downturn isn’t so bad
NEW YORK — Oct. 17, 2006 — New mortgage applications are up. Pending home sales are up. The economy is expanding. Unemployment is at 4.6 percent. And mortgage rates are still historically low.
What kind of housing bust is this anyway?
All the dismal reports about the real estate market overlook the realities in the market place, some housing experts say.
The housing correction — expressed through new home starts — “may be closer to [its] trough than to [its] peak,” says Federal Reserve vice chairman Donald L. Kohn.
Today’s “unusually low” long-term mortgage-rate environment “stands in sharp contrast to some past downturns in the housing market that followed actions by the Federal Reserve to tighten credit conditions significantly,” Kohn adds.
James Glassman of JP Morgan Chase is equally optimistic. He says 30-year fixed-rate mortgages at 5.75 percent are a distinct possibility if long-term rates in the global bond market keep easing. The current cyclical downturn in housing “is not your classic interest-rate story” he says.
Perhaps the most blunt appraisal comes from Mike Moran, chief economist of Wall Street’s Daiwa Securities America. Moran says the financial press is taking a normal and long-predicted cyclical rebalancing and “portraying it as a catastrophe.”
Source: Kenneth R. Harney, Washington Post Writers Group (10/15/2006)
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