June home sales in the Ocala Marion County market were pretty much the same as May. The big news once again is the steady decline in the number of active listings.

It’s not just my opinion that the market is improving. The following is an excerpt from a newsletter that I get from Micheal White a local appraiser. Visit his Ocala Appraisals web site.  He has nice charts and analysis by zip codes.

For the past several years Marion Oaks and Silver Springs Shores have been the driving forces in the Marion County real estate market, however the influence of these subdivisions appears to be subsiding. Inventory levels have switched from vastly over-supplied to a shortage of single-family housing. Marion Oaks has an approximate supply of four months of inventory while Silver Springs Shores has less than a three month supply. Combined, these subdivisions accounted for 21.9% of all sales recorded through the Ocala/Marion County Association of Realtor’s Website (OMCAR) in Q2 of 2011, compared to 23.4% in Q2 of 2010. Values have continued to decline in both communities, although at a much slower pace than in recent years. I would expect declines to moderate even further if inventory levels remain at their current rates or decline even further.

Countywide, inventory levels have dropped from a peak of 26 months in 2008 to a current inventory level of 9.2 months. Absorption rates have increased from 215 per month in 2008 to 387 per month for the second quarter of this year.  The declines in prices should begin to subside further within the next year if inventory levels continue to decline.

The bottom line for the local market is that values are still declining but brighter days may be on the horizon. Several of the markets included in this report saw values increase, which may be a harbinger of things to come for the remaining markets.