I have been reviewing a lot of information the past month to get a better grasp of what the future may hold for both buyers and sellers and, in this month’s newsletter, I’ll share with you some of that information and point out specific issues that you need to be aware of when making your decision.
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First, let’s look at the statistics for last month as well as for the whole year of 2012.
Sales and Inventory Statistics
December tends to be a stronger month than November and the last 2 years were especially strong. I wasn’t sure whether this year would be above the last 2 but once again we had another month in which sales were above all of the past 5 years in the same month. This makes 12 straight months in which this occurred.
As a result of this and the fact that less people will have their house listed between Thanksgiving and the New Year, inventory fell to another low – this time below 4 months. Inventory at this low level with sales continuing to be strong and prices showing increases all indicate a seller’s market.
Taking a look back at the year in its entirety, sales in 2012 were up about 15% from 2011 and over 30% from 2010. I was writing as far back as in Spring of 2009 that it appeared our local market started to turn around beginning in 2008 and this graph validates that:
Information for charts above was taken from PRO/Suncoast MLS from Jan 2007 thru May 2011 & from the MFRMLS for May 2011 thru Dec 2012. This information may or may not include all listed expired, withdrawn, pending or sold properties of one or more members of the My Florida Regional Multiple Listing Service.
These all show positive, continuing trends for our local market – but will they continue? What are the challenges that may be facing buyers and sellers in the next 2-3 years?