Assignment: St. Petersburg » Real Estate Statistics

September Sales Statistics for Pinellas

Bob Horn — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:01:56 +0000

It always takes a few weeks to process the raw statistical data in order to produce reports on the health of the Real Estate market in Pinellas County. Realtors and residents in Pinellas are very lucky in terms of having access to accurate, timely, and relevant statistical reports. Our local Real Estate board, the Pinellas Realtor Organization (also known as PRO), does a great job of digesting all of the data each month and then producing a series of excellent graphs, charts, and reports. If you are ever interested in seeing those reports directly, you can view them on the PRO web site’s Statistics Page. But for a condensed overview of Pinellas’ Real Estate market for September, read on and I’ll give you the basics.

The data would seem to support a continuation of a trend of the past several months, indicating that the market has stabilized. Certainly, prices are much lower that they used to be and sales are still off from the wild ride of a few years ago. But, in terms of stability, prices have not had any huge spikes, up or down, for the past several months. And sales volume has continued to be significantly higher than it was for the same month last year or even the year before. Here are some highlights:

New Listings in Sept: 2,518. Down from 2,779 in Sept 08 and from 3,139 in Sept 07.

Active Listings at end of Sept: 12,773. Down from 20,053 in Sept 08 and from 22,807 in Sept 07.

Pending Sales at end of Sept: 1,540. Up dramatically from 837 in Sept 08 and from 712 in Sept 07.

Avg Days on Market Until Sale: 94. Down from 102 in Sept 08 and from 100 in Sept 07.

Supply/Demand Ratio: 4.85 houses available per active buyer. Down very strongly from 12.78 houses per buyer in Sept 08 and 17.05 houses per buyer in Sept 07.

Inventory Supply at Current Rate of Sales: 8 months inventory. Down from 24 months in Sept 08 and from 32 months in Sept 07.

So, as you can see, the market is definitely healthier than it has been for quite some time in Pinellas. If you’re interested in buying a new home, there are still very good prices and there is still a fair amount of inventory. But houses are, indeed selling, and if inventory continues to go down, logic and history tell us that prices will begin to move up. So if you’re a potential buyer, you might consider putting things in motion! And if you’re a seller, note the data and be of good cheer – houses are selling, and in a reasonable amount of time. There are just two critical conditions for a successful sale – your house needs to be in good condition and you need to have it priced at today’s market prices. If you do that, you have a very good chance of selling if you want to…

If you’d like more detail on any of the items that I posted, please feel free to contact me – my contact phone number and email are always available near the top of the right column of this page. And if you’re interested in buying or selling a home, please call or email. I know St. Petersburg inside and out and I work happily with both buyers and sellers.

[All data referenced in this post is courtesy of the Pinellas Realtor Organization and is believed to be accurate, but is not guaranteed.]

August Data: Sales Up, Inventory Down, Prices Stable

Bob Horn — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 01:51:34 +0000

Sales and Listing data for the Pinellas Real Estate market is analyzed each month by our local Real Estate board, PRO (Pinellas Realtor Organization). Analysis of August’s data was completed last week, and it appears that the trend of the past few months is continuing, which is good news and gives me continued cause for optimism that our local market is continuing to move towards being a balanced market.

Here are some of the highlights:

The number of new listings added to the market dropped 12.6% from August 2008, from 2,766 new listings added in August 2008 to a more reasonable 2,427 new listings added in August 2009

The overall number of Active listings – homes for sale – dropped a healthy 36% from last year, from 20,226 in August 2008 to 12,867 in August 2009

The number of Pending Contracts – deals that have been agreed to that are just waiting to reach closing – increased 68% from last year, from 887 in August 2008 to 1,492 in August 2009

The Median Selling Price for homes sold in August 2009 was $140,000, and that median price has been approximately the same for the past ten months

The Supply/Demand ratio has dropped significantly over the past year – there were 12.07 houses on the market in August 2008 for every single active buyer, but in August 2009, there were only 5.3 houses per buyer

Finally, the number of months of inventory has dropped very dramatically over the past year. In August 2008, there was a 23 month supply of housing inventory, based on number of houses on the market and number of sales taking place. In August of 2009, there is only a 9 months supply of housing inventory.

All of these statistics point to continued stabilization of our local market. There is definitely a great deal of activity now in the Real Estate market, among both buyers and sellers. Sellers who have homes that are in good condition and that are priced correctly are selling, and in a reasonably short timeframe. And buyers who are in the market for a new home are still finding a lot of opportunities, but some of the better ones are purchased and disappear from the market pretty quickly!

[All data referenced in this post is courtesy of the Pinellas Realtor Organization and is believed to be accurate, but is not guaranteed.]

July Single Family Home Statistics for Pinellas County

Bob Horn — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 22:24:53 +0000

Today is Monday, and on Mondays I post about Real Estate topics. Sometimes it might be an educational post, explaining some aspect of Real Estate that I want to talk about. Sometimes, it might be a post about how we’re doing in St. Petersburg and in Pinellas County overall. Today it’s going to be the latter – PRO, the Pinellas Realtor Organization, released statistics for July last week, so I want to tell you about single family home listings and sales.

As I did last month, I’m going to begin with a disclaimer, and it’s simply this: I can’t tell you that everything’s great – there are still too many houses for sale, prices are still lower than what sellers want, and people are still being foreclosed on and losing their houses. But, in relative terms, the news is not as bad as it had been for so many months. Sales volume continues to improve and sale prices seem to have stabilized over the past few months.

First, let’s talk about single family listings – houses that are currently listed for sale in Pinellas County. At the end of July, there were 6,525 single family homes for sale. Compare that to July of last year, when there were 8,643 listings, and July 0f 2007, when there were 9,198 listings. That’s pretty noteworthy – the number of houses for sale is down 24% from the same time last year and down 29% from 2007!

As to pricing, the median sale price for Pinellas single family homes hit a low point of $125,000 back in January, but since then, it’s been in the $140,000s every month. For July, the median sale price was right at $140,000. But that includes foreclosures and short sales. If you look at numbers of ‘normal’, or non-distressed sales, the median price was $157,950 in July. For houses that were sold in a pre-foreclosure/short sale state, the median price was $120,000 for July. Finally, for houses that had already completed foreclusure and were sold as Bank-Owned/REO houses, the median price for July was $76,500, which is a 37% drop from July of 2008.

One more interesting fact about single family home sales in July – continuing a trend that began last month, the highest percentage of homes sold in all the various price ranges were not the least expensive houses. Homes selling at under $100,000 had been the leader in home sales for many months, but in June and July, that was no longer true. Homes under $100,000 made up about 30% of all home sales. Homes in the $100,000 to $200,000 range made up about 40% of all home sales, and homes in the $200,000 to $250,000 range accounted for 9% of all single family home sales.

There’s more data available, but I want to keep this light and easy to digest – just want to give you an idea of how things are going. If you have questions or would like to see any specific sort of information, either one time, or on a regular basis, please give me some feedback via a comment. I’ll do everything I can to accommodate. And if you’re interested in July statistics for condominium listings and sales, I’ll post that information next week.

[All data referenced in this post is courtesy of the Pinellas Realtor Organization and is believed to be accurate, but is not guaranteed.]

June Condominium Sales Statistics For Pinellas

Bob Horn — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 23:40:38 +0000

Just a reminder that, in addition to showing off St. Petersburg, I’m also going to post some local Real Estate information from time to time – probably once a week.

Last Monday, I posted information about single family home listings and sales. June statistics had just been released and the news was better than it had been for awhile. Today, as I give you the stats on condo sales, you’ll see that there’s a positive trend here, too.

The number of condominium listings in Pinellas is down 16.9% from where it was last year. At the end of this June, there were 6,059 condominiums listed on the market in Pinellas – at the end of June last year, there were 7,293 condos for sale. A very healthy drop in inventory…

As far as price goes, the median price of all June condo sales was $139,000, which is the highest median price for condos yet this year. If you look only at ‘regular’ condo sales, excluding short sales and/or foreclosures, the median price of all Pinellas condos sold this June was $146,500.

Continuing the good news, the actual number of condiminiums that sold in June was up 29% from June of last year, from 327 sold units last June to 422 sold this June. The greatest percentage of condos sold were those in the $100,000 to $120,000 price range, at 10.7% of all units sold. But not too terribly far behind was the $200,000 to $250,000 price range, at 8.5% of all units sold.

Clearly, the Real Estate market still has a way to go before it recovers, and these statistics don’t dispute that fact. But they do show a continued positive trend in Pinellas, with sales up, prices up, and unsold inventory down, when compared to June of last year.

It is definitely time for anyone who is considering buying a home, whether it’s a single family house or a condominium, to get off the fence and get serious. Prices are going up, not down. And the $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers or those who have not owned a home in three years or longer only applies to sales that have closing completed by November 30th. That’s $8,000 of absolutely free money for you, if you are that first time home buyer. Questions? Contact me for details.

[All data referenced in this post is courtesy of the Pinellas Realtor Organization and is believed to be accurate, but is not guaranteed.]

June Single Family Home Statistics for Pinellas County

Bob Horn — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:30:37 +0000

Okay, this is a real estate blog, remember? Although I love showing off St. Petersburg, and that’s what I’ll do most of the time, I am going to include some Real Estate topics on a regular basis, because I want you to know what’s going on around here.

This is a good day to post some statistical information, because the June statistics have just been compiled and they were released on Friday by PRO – the Pinellas Realtor Organization. And the news is actually pretty upbeat. No, I’m not going to tell you that everything’s rosy – there are still lots of houses for sale and prices are still lower than what sellers want and people are still being foreclosed on.

But, in relative terms, things are definitely moving in a positive direction. So, enough of my prelude – here are some of the basic statistics for the month of June…

First, let’s talk about single family listings – houses that are currently listed for sale in Pinellas County. At the end of June, there were 6,702 single family homes for sale. Compare that to June of last year, when there were 8,176 listings, and June 0f 2007, when there were 9,000 listings. That’s pretty noteworthy – the number of houses for sale is down 22% from the same time last year and down 25% from 2007!

What about price? That’s good news, too – the median sale price for Pinellas single family homes hit the low point of $125,000 in January, but since then, it’s been in the $140,000s every month. For June, the median sale price was $147,000. And that includes foreclosures and short sales. If you look at numbers of ‘normal’, or non-distressed sales, the median price was $171,750 in June – definitely recovering from where it’s been for quite awhile.

One more interesting fact about single family home sales in June – for the first time in quite awhile, the houses that actually sold were not the least expensive houses. Homes selling at under $100,000 had been the leader in home sales for many months, but in June, that turned around. Homes under $100,000 made up about 26% of all home sales. Homes in the $100,000 to $250,000 range made up about 53% of all home sales.

There’s a great deal of additional data available, but I don’t want to turn this into some dry statistical post – just want to give you an idea of how things are going. If you have questions or would like to see any specific sort of information, either one time, or on a regular basis, please give me some feedback via a comment. I’ll do everything I can to accommodate. And if you’re interested in June statistics for condominium listings and sales, I’ll post that information next week.

[All data referenced in this post is courtesy of the Pinellas Realtor Organization and is believed to be accurate, but is not guaranteed.]