‘Sharp Drop’ In Palm Beach Home Sales
The Boca Raton News has this update on Florida. “Sales of existing single-family homes noticeably declined in January in Boca Raton and other parts of Palm Beach County—the sharpest drop since February 1997. According to the Florida Association of Realtors, only 586 homes were sold in the Boca-West Palm Beach area during the month. The number represented a 39 percent drop from January 2005, when 957 homes were sold.”
“The slowdown has also affected the local condominium market, with FAR officials reporting that condo sales dropped 32 percent in January.”
“Boca realtor Richard Bass remarked that the lack of home sales does not come as a surprise to him. ‘This trend has been taking place for awhile,’ Bass said. ‘It’s a new part of the real estate cycle that we’re going through for the past three years. Many investors are leaving the market these days because of the slow appreciation, resulting in a lot more houses to choose from,’ Bass said”
“Palm Beach homes additionally experienced a median home price of $393,700 for January, representing a nine percent jump from $361,800 this time last year. Statistics point out, though, that Palm Beach home prices went down slightly from $408,200 in December, marking the first time that the median cost slipped below $400,000 since July.”
“Palm Beach is not the only county to feel the wrath of the real estate cycle, according to FAR reports. In Broward, home sales dropped 36 percent for January while Miami-Dade experienced a sale decline of 28 percent. Total statewide home sales were only 12,815 in January—a 19 percent decrease when compared to 15,745 homes sold a year ago during the same month.”
When sales drop by nearly 40%, it has got to be inflicting a lot of pain on the entire RE food chain. Big layoffs are sure to follow.
Will be “scraping in the streets” over listings. The lean and mean will survive it. Rookies will be searching for a new job real soon.
David Lereah on MSNBC this morning re the 1% drop month/month in the NAR’s pending home sales index: “Maybe we’re hitting a plateau.”
Good riddance, hurricane magnet.
Oh, so the “investors” don’t like the current appreciation in that market?
Yeah, right.
Fark them and the horses they rode in on.
““Boca realtor Richard Bass remarked that the lack of home sales does not come as a surprise to him. ‘This trend has been taking place for awhile,’ Bass said. ‘It’s a new part of the real estate cycle that we’re going through for the past three years. Many investors are leaving the market these days because of the slow appreciation, resulting in a lot more houses to choose from,’ Bass said””
A proffesional liar. ‘Slow appreciation’ is NOT happening. Depreciation is happening in the Palm Beach County market. It is not a slowdown but rather a decline.
David
Bubble Meter Blog
Rising interest rates and $1 trillion in reamoritzing loans in 2007. Oooooh, that’s gonna leave a mark.
Hey, what do you think? Are we going to break up or down out of this tiresome trading range.
I’m betting down but damn, it’s getting boring to watch.
I would bet down in the short term. The market needs about a 2%-3% correction. However, I still like the market for 2006, although I expect some volatility. I look for the S&P 500 to finish 2006 about 1390 (+11%). Two things need to happen for this to occur. We need stabalizing oil prices (prefer under $60) and for the Fed to stop the rate hikes at 5% in May. If the Fed is forced to go beyond 5% or oil is an issue again, all bets are off. With that being said, I am not too optimistic for 2007. A recession in the next 12-18 months is quite possible. Just my opinion.
Guys, it’s all going to be okay. Hordes of old people in the Northeast and Midwest are going to sell their homes and move to Florida all at the same time. January was down due to the Olympics. We’ll be back to appreciation any minute.
..and February was kind of windy. Brokeback Mountain didn’t win Best Picture in March like everyone was predicting, so now we’re looking at April for a recover, at the earliest.
………then it will be (insert favorite team) didn’t make the Final Four and (insert favorite driver) crashed at the Indy 500. The recovery won’t start until after Memorial Day, unless the Cubs are in last place (again). Then all bets are off.
yeah, all those retirees must be stuck in traffic!
They think the For Sale signs are Stop signs and aren’t moving.
On the topic of investors and the percentage of homes they purchased, I suspect that the 25% number we’ve heard from the NAR is significantly understated because many investors may be giving misleading information. Look at the two Loudoun County tax records below. Not saying that this couple is lying, but they certainly don’t live in both properties simultaneously and the listings for both homes say “never lived in”. (Anyone know what “R/S” stands for?)
Property Address
32 POTTERFIELD DR
LOVETTSVILLE VA 20180
Current Owner Name/Address
BOYD, ANDREW W & CATHLEEN A R/S
32 POTTERFIELD DR
LOVETTSVILLE VA 20180-8628
Property Address
39 HOUSER DR
LOVETTSVILLE VA 20180
Current Owner Name/Address
BOYD, CATHLEEN A & ANDREW W R/S
39 HOUSER DR
LOVETTSVILLE VA 20180-8631
Realtor/Seller ?
Royal Sucker? Royally Screwed? Who knows.
I hope that it doesn’t mean they are doubly F’d - by purchase mortgage money obtained by stating Owner Occupied. That is an even uglier position than just losing money- fraud with significant penalties.
FYI…….I know a guy who worked for Lennar here in Palm Beach County. He estimated 85% of the units he sold were to ivestors. Ouch!!!!!!
What these realtors are allowed to say defies logic and integrity. This industry needs some serious regulation. If a stock goes down a stock broker can’t ssay it’s “appreciating.”
This is only the tip of the iceberg people. The top of the mountain. It’s all down hill from here as this avalance picks up steam. Get off the mountain and out of the path while you still can.
Slow appreciation?? How about negative appreciation buddy. This is what baffles me. These people were either horrible at math, don’t read any of the data, or both.
Not only have sales fallen off a cliff, but as predicted, prices have fallen. The rules of simple supply and demand have taken over.
See the next comment for evidence. Evidence that Richard Bass is neglecting or is totally oblivious of.
Richard, stop watching American idol and start doing some research. RE doesn’t always go up!
As I said, this party is just beginning. Florida will be ground zero, along with Arizona, California, The Northeast, and D.C. for the housing bust.
“Slow appreciation?? How about negative appreciation buddy. This is what baffles me. These people were either horrible at math, don’t read any of the data, or both.”
Not to mention evil, greedy, and dumb. I’ve noticed in the area I’ve been shopping in the suburbs of Baltimore, if a place doesn’t sell after a couple months, they take it off MLS for a week or so and put it back on at 40K-50K MORE! WTF? A clear sign that the end is nigh for all of this madness.
Many speculators will wait one year from closing to sell in order to qualify for lower capital gains tax rates. This may be another tidal wave of properties that will come on the market.
Reminds me of the moron dot.bomb investors who waited to sell to bag the lower LT cap gain rate. You know how that ended.
FL will be OK. The retirees will begin moving there in mass, just in time for the hurricane season. They will be bringing their own plywood from the other areas and are eagerly awaiting another Wilma, Charlie, Katrina, Rita, and what ever other hurricane will come that way. BOOMERS To the rescue. To save the FLOPPERS
A negative $50,000 would have a lower tax rate, that a short term gain of $100,000 would have been. Most have been holding out for the $50,000 or more loss.
Condoflip.com is still in business. FL must still be there. After the next hurricane, it will be part of the ocean.
If the hurricans don’t get it, rising sea levels will. The boomers might get to retire in Florida, but the rest of us shouldn’t plan on it. Somebody could make a good investment trying to guess where the new beachfronts will be.
You can cover a piece of turd in honey and call it candy, but it is still a piece of turd. Looks like some people are starting to understand this.
The local realtors like Bass are not going to admit the crash because it is their paycheck. They will tell you to buy the entire way down. It’s not their money, silly.
they are trying to unload their own turds and save the money that they already spent on Hummers so they drive north when the next big one comes
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