Tallahassee Real Estate Market Report for February 2008
The February numbers are in, and it’s time to take a look at the Tallahassee Real Estate Market for the Month of February.
The first thing I check every month are the average prices of the major residential groups. Single-family detached homes, condominiums and town houses, residential lots, and mobile homes.
We can see that average prices are still moving higher in the Tallahassee Real Estate market. I’m not so sure why we are seeing this. This does not necessarily mean appreciation, it just could be an indication of what people are buying right now. More analysis on this is needed.
The next graph is for the Gooch, who always wants to know what is up with lot sales. Lot prices in Leon County, Florida are holding steady with the average Tallahassee residential lot selling for roughly $90,100.
Well Gooch, lot sales have trended down from a high of 228 lots selling per month in April of 2006 all the way down to 100 lots selling per month through February of this year. Tallahassee lot prices hit a monthly average high in March of 2006 at $113,000 and is currently holding steady at an average of $90,100.
There will be much more of the Tallahassee Real Estate Market Update for February 2008 in following blogs.
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Joe Manausa is a real estate investor and the Broker and Co-Owner of Century 21 First Realty. He can be reached via e-mail through the Tallahassee Real Estate Website or catch his latest writings on the Tallahassee Florida Real Estate Blog , or by calling (850) 386-2001.
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March 20th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
Atta boy, Joe. Thanks for the information.
I continue to be amazed at land prices in the Tallahassee area. After seeing other areas of the country, it appears that land is a good commodity in northwest florida.
Even with less than half of the activity from the prior boom years, the average price is still holding fairly steady?! This leads me to think that there are a few owners out there in no hurry to build and/or in no hurry to sell. They are in it for the longer haul. If that green line was my stock portfolio performance, I’d be happy. “Land… they aren’t making any more of it!”
I’m also perplexed by the rise in average prices for homes. In my non-expert opinion, it looks like inventory is rising and listing prices are dropping. Perhaps a cost per square foot would be a better indicator of what’s going on. Or maybe a selling price to listing price ratio.
Hey, keep up the good work.
March 20th, 2008 at 6:19 pm
Thanks for the nice words Gooch.
I too am amazed with all the prices holding steady and rising, even as inventories rise.
Here are a few thoughts on some of your points:
1. Inventory has basically stopped rising, but relative to sales (months of inventory) it still is rising. 70% of the Seller’s are going to fail in their efforts to sell their home this year. The ones that price it right will win the day.
2. Excellent observation on your part Gooch, looking at price per foot as another indicator. While not the “end all” in real estate pricing, it is a great rule of thumb that should not be overlooked. Maybe I’ll mess around with that for a future post….
3. Selling price to listing price ratio. Great idea… impossible to measure. Whenever you see an expert quote this, know the expert is no expert! Here’s the problem. You list you home with Company A for 6 months at $500K. After 3 months you lower your price to $475K. 3 months later you fire that company and you list with Company B at $470K. 3 months later you fire that company and hire Company C21 to get it sold (sorry, couldn’t miss the opportunity for a cheesy plug…). You list it at $465K and it sells three weeks later for $465K.
Question. How long was it on the market (market time) and what was its Sales Price to List Price ratio?
Answer. The way most MLS’s work is market time = three weeks and ratio is 100%.
Does that seem right?
Until our databases get more sophisticated, this is one metric we have to ignore.
Thanks Gooch.