North Florida Home Sales Continue To Struggle

It has been quite some time since I published reports on home sales in the counties that surround the Tallahassee Real Estate Market. Because of time constraints, I usually get to this information on a quarterly basis, but it doesn't hurt when I get several requests asking for an update.

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The counties that we will look at include Leon County, Florida, Gadsden County, Florida, Jefferson County, Florida, and Wakulla County, Florida. Four real estate graphs show a pretty clear picture:

• Home Sales Are Down
• Foreclosures Are Skyrocketing
• Average Home Prices Are Falling
• Lot Prices Are Falling

North Florida Home Sales

The following real estate graph shows that home sales have fallen quite a bit in Florida's Capital Region.

North Florida Foreclosures Rising Rapidly

While this should come as no surprise to anybody who follows the Tallahassee Foreclosure Reports, but foreclosures in our area are blowing the roof off of old "norms." The following graph suggests that we will see new records for many more months to follow.

North Florida Lot and Land Sales Down

Three out of the four counties in North Florida have lower lot prices than we saw at the beginning of 2006. Jefferson County is the one county that still shows higher prices, but the number of lot sales there is so few that the trend line is "all over the chart."

Average Home Prices In North Florida Falling

When we look at single family detached home prices in North Florida, all counties show the same trend .... falling prices. The following real estate graph is (like the others) a trend report, so the final values represent a year's worth of information, so current prices are even lower. Each of the four reporting counties will continue to see prices drop until market equilibrium is reached (supply of homes = 6 months). We have a long way to go before that number is reached.

North Florida Counties Have Too Much Home Supply

When we look at the North Florida homes for sale in the Tallahassee MLS, we see way too much supply. The following graph shows over 18 months of supply of homes based upon the current rate of sales. Since we know that the Leon County supply of homes is less than 12 months, the other counties have to be doing far worse.

North Florida Home Owners

I've said it for Tallahassee and I'll repeat it for all of North Florida. If you have a home to sell, make sure you are committed to getting it sold. Work with a real estate company that knows where the buyers are, and follow their advice. If you find that you are not in a position to sell due to market conditions, then pull your home from the glut of inventory. If enough people do this, the recovery will go much faster.