Florida’s Market is Backward This Time of Year

Florida’s Market is Backward This Time of Year

Who wants to buy a home in 110° heat? Many Floridians do and that’s why now is one of the hottest markets in the Florida area. Looking at a map of the United States this week we here in Florida were the only place over 70°. Even Californians are having record cold temperatures under 40°, which in California and Florida for that matter, is frightfully cold. But just because the weather outside is frightful doesn’t mean that Florida is. We have beautiful 80° weather all throughout the Christmas season and according to Realtor.com many housing markets are heating up in  warmer climates. “Because of tight inventory, states in the West and South are expected to see home prices jumped by 4 to 8% of the next 12 months.” This is according to the latest data from the Realtor’s confidence Index survey. The highest priced growth is expected to happen in Florida as well as other states such as California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas and Utah. (The Realtor’s Confidence Index is a key indicator of housing market strength based on a monthly survey sent to over 50,000 real estate practitioners. They are asked about the expectations for home sales, prices and market conditions.)

Related:  House Flippers Back on Market

Prices are expected to increase anywhere from 4-5% over the next 12 months according to data that was gathered in November by over 3000 Realtors®. Now is an excellent time to consider buying in the Florida real estate market because while everyone else is covered in a sleepy blanket of snow or frost, the Southwest Florida real estate market is booming. This is our busy season and it’s usually in the middle of summer with 100+ degree temperatures that people are not wanting to buy.

So what is this mean for sellers? Sellers are more likely to get their asking price if not a bit higher depending on seller incentives, inventory, and the amount of buyers out there. There are more buyers during this time of year than in the summer and yet there are few sellers then there were during the summer months so it could be an interesting balancing act.

According to the survey, Realtor comments for Florida State, “we seem to be getting 3 to 5 buyers for every property that goes on the market that is priced right. We only have about four months of inventory.” Other comments state, “appraisals are getting more fair and not as many problems as in previous months.”