Ocala Real Estate Talk

Posts Tagged ‘Ocala real estate market report’

Ocala and Marion County home sales were excellent in April. Total sales were only 3 less than in March which is traditionally our best month. Things tend to slow down after the snowbirds go home but this year feels different. Active listings have gone down again. This is part of a gradual decline that started in early 2011. If you go back through old market reports you will see that foreclosures are half the number we had in April 2011. With both active listings and foreclosures going down it’s hard not to think that our market is finally recovering.

Statistics used for this blog post are from the Ocala Marion County MLS and are deemed to be accurate at the time this blog was written but are not guaranteed. All information is time sensitive and subject to change without notice. Home sales are for Marion County only and do not include FSBO, homes sold by builders or by auction that were not  listed on the MLS, commercial properties or vacant land.

March is always our best month for home sales. Sales in March are from contracts written in January and February which is Snowbird season. The number of active listings went down a little, which seems to be part of a steady decline.There were more sales in the $200K to $500K range than we have seem recently. Foreclosures and short sales are less than a year ago.

Bank of America has come out with an expedited short sale process. It will be very interesting to see if it actually works. Currently short sales can take months to close if at all. Many buyers just get sick of waiting for an answer and move on to another house.

Micheal White, a local Ocala real estate appraiser, has come out with his quarterly market analysis. This is a must read for anyone interested in Ocala home sales. The market, in his opinion as well as mine, has hit bottom and is turning around for he better, finally.

Now is the time to buy. Call me, email me or use my Ocala Dream Home Finder.

Statistics used for this blog post are from the Ocala Marion County MLS and are deemed to be accurate at the time this blog was written but are not guaranteed. All information is time sensitive and subject to change without notice. Home sales are for Marion County only and do not include FSBO, homes sold by builders or by auction that were not  listed on the MLS, commercial properties or vacant land.

February had 356 sales which is an excellent number. This shouldn’t be a surprise though because the winter here in Florida is snowbird season and sales are always good. The total number of active listings is down a little from previous months. I don’t expect the number of active listings to drop as fast as they did this time last year. I do think active listings will continue to go down as the market improves. If we drop about 1000 listings, down to around 2500, prices will beginning to rise.  I think prices rising is a year off, at least.

You’ll notice that I’m back to my old format for my market reports due to popular demand. If you read other statistics, like the local paper, you will see a different total number of sales. That’s because I count mobile homes with real property as sales. That is a mobile home where the seller owns the land. Mobile homes in parks that rent a lot are not considered real estate.

I mostly work with buyers. When I show them homes an often asked question is how long has this house been on the market. Some seem surprised when a house has been for sales for several months. The average number of days on the market for the past 12 months is 155 days. I don’t think much of days on the market. A great house can be over priced and sit on the market for a couple of years and never sell but if the seller drops the price down to an aggressive number then the house will sell in a couple of months. A big price drop to the correct market value will also expose the listing to a whole new set of buyers.

Statistics used for this blog post are from the Ocala Marion County MLS and are deemed to be accurate at the time this blog was written but are not guaranteed. All information is time sensitive and subject to change without notice. Home sales are for Marion County only and do not include FSBO, homes sold by builders or by auction that were not  listed on the MLS, commercial properties or vacant land.

As of today the Ocala Marion County MLS states that there were 283 residential home sales here in Marion County. That’s a good month compared to previous Ocala real estate market reports. This should be no surprise since contracts that closed in January were written 30 to 60 days earlier which is the beginning of snow bird season. There were 64 foreclosure sales. That’s about half of what we were seeing in early 2011. There were 29 short sales in January. Short sales don’t seem to be getting any easier to close unfortunately. As of today there are 3,546 active residential listings. If you look at past market reports you can see a steady decline starting about 1 year ago.

I’ve changed the format for my market reports for 2012 beginning with this one. I’d really like feed back. If you liked the old more detailed report then make a comment or send me an email.

Statistics used for this blog post are from the Ocala Marion County MLS and are deemed to be accurate at the time this blog was written but are not guaranteed. All information is time sensitive and subject to change without notice. Home sales are for Marion County only and do not include FSBO, homes sold by builders or by auction that were not  listed on the MLS, commercial properties or vacant land.

Home sales in Ocala/Marion County were up over November. That’s not a surprise as we are going into Snowbird season. We don’t have an off season like winter in northern areas but we do have more business in the winter than the summer. The worse the winter is up north the better it is for selling homes here in Ocala.

IS THE WORST BEHIND US?

The following analysis is from Michael White and Ocala Valuation Services a local appraiser.

Based on the declining amount of inventory, Marion County may be near the bottom for real estate values. Values have continued to decline, although at the slowest rate since 2007. Meanwhile inventory levels have been reduced substantially. In 2011, the Marion County Multiple Listing Service (OMCAR) saw more than 4,300 single-family homes sold. This is the highest number since 2006, when more than 4,700 homes were sold. At the end of 2008, Marion County had a 26 month supply of single-family inventory, compared to an 18 month supply at the end of 2009, a 13 month supply at the end of 2010 and a 9 month supply at the end of last year. Absorption rates have increased from 215 per month in 2008, to 268 in 2009, 333 in 2010 and 361 last year.

Several areas are noted to be under-supplied at present, including Marion Oaks,Silver Springs Shores and the 34479 zip code in NE Ocala. Marion Oaks currently has less than a four month supply while Silver Springs Shores has slightly more than a three month supply. At the end of 2011, Silver Springs Shores and Marion Oaks accounted for 8% of the available inventory recorded in the OMCAR database. 21% of all residential properties sold in 2011 through OMCAR were located in these two subdivisions as well.

Of all of the data analyzed, the reduction in distress properties (foreclosure and short sales) seemed to stand out the most. Distress sales accounted for 39% of all sales countywide in 2009, 51% in 2010 and 47% in 2011. At the end of 2011, only 21% of all active listings were marketed as distress properties.

OK, this is where I tell you that now is the time to buy. Call me, email me or better yet use my Ocala Dream Home Finder.

In November there were 306 residential sales on the Ocala/Marion County MLS. That’s up from October but down from previous months this year. The most noticeable thing is the lack of foreclosure sales. I can’t remember when we had only 51 foreclosures sell in a month. If you look at the above link you’ll see a decline from around 150 foreclosure sales per month to this months low. There is supposed to be a shadow inventory. That is homes foreclosed on by banks that haven’t been put on the market. It will be interesting to see if foreclosure sales pick up in 2012.

The winter is the big home selling season here in Ocala. Unlike up north we don’t have an off season but we do have prime time and that’s winter. The worse the winter is up north the better my sales are here in Ocala. I’m expecting a great winter. I have 4 homes under contract and I’m making appointments for January and February.

Statistics used for this blog post are from the Ocala Marion County MLS and are deemed to be accurate at the time this blog was written but are not guaranteed. All information is time sensitive and subject to change without notice. Home sales are for Marion County only and do not include FSBO, homes sold by builders or by auction that were not  listed on the MLS, commercial properties or vacant land.

Ocala area home sales were down in October compared to last month. In September there were 360 sales which is 77 more than October. Almost all of the difference was in the sub $100,000- range. Foreclosures are way down from the spring of the year with only 73 sales this month. Inventory is holding steady after a huge drop in the first months of this year.

Have Ocala home prices bottomed out and will there be a big rebound as in this article in today’s Ocala Star Banner? I don’t see how prices can go much lower but I also think several things have to happen before prices will go up too.

1. Out of area buyers have to be able to sell their existing homes.

2. Ocala unemployment has to go way down from the current 12% so locals can buy a house. You can’t buy a house, no matter how cheap, without income.

3. Inventory has to go down considerably in order for prices to rise. More than 6 months inventory is a buyers market. Inventory would have to drop from todays 3700 units to around 2000.

4. The foreclosure inventory, especially newer foreclosures, need to be sold off. Unemployment has to go down to keep more homes from being foreclosed. Banks have to stop using foreclosures and short sales as comparables when doing appraisals. Never ending foreclosures killed the Ocala real estate market.

I do think there is a growing pent up demand for new homes, especially in the 55+ communities. However buyers don’t seem to understand that builders can’t compete on price with current resales.

We are entering Snow Bird season which is great for home selling in Ocala. Winter is an excellent time to sell and if you’re sick of northern winters it’s a great time to buy.

Statistics used for this blog post are from the Ocala Marion County MLS and are deemed to be accurate at the time this blog was written but are not guaranteed. All information is time sensitive and subject to change without notice. Home sales are for Marion County only and do not include FSBO, homes sold by builders or by auction that were not  listed on the MLS, commercial properties or vacant land.

Ocala area home sales have been pretty steady since June, plus or minus 5%. Active listings have remained about the same since June after dropping around 1,000 units earlier this year. Foreclosures are down about 30% from early 2011. Short sales always seem to be about the same.

You can see all my market reports and compare them month to month yourself at Ocala Home Sales. I think you’ll see that we are at the bottom of the market.

Statistics used for this blog post are from the Ocala Marion County MLS and are deemed to be accurate at the time this blog was written but are not guaranteed. All information is time sensitive and subject to change without notice. Home sales are for Marion County only and do not include FSBO, homes sold by builders or by auction that were not  listed on the MLS, commercial properties or vacant land.

Sales in August were up by 1o% from July. Inventory is down by only 30 homes. Earlier this year inventory was dropping every month but it seems to have reached a plateau, at least nor now. Foreclosures are down by quite a bit from earlier this year. We’ll have to see if this is temporary or the beginning of a trend. Short sales seem more or less the same over the last several months.

Sales in July were similar to past months.  The total number of active listings declined again but not as much as previous months.  Foreclosures are down quite a bit but you really can’t make judgements on just one month. You need top watch for trends.

I’ve been saying all year long that the big news is that the number of active listings is declining. To illustrate that point I looked back to my August 2010 market report and there were 5,464 active listing 12 months ago.

Statistics used for this blog post are from the Ocala Marion County MLS and are deemed to be accurate at the time this blog was written but are not guaranteed. All information is time sensitive and subject to change without notice. Home sales are for Marion County only and do not include FSBO, homes sold by builders or by auction that were not  listed on the MLS, commercial properties or vacant land.