Palm Beach County Prices Rise 28%

Let's share some great news!  Palm Beach Gardens home prices continue to soar!  Kim Miller wrote:

The median sales price of an existing single-family home in Palm Beach County soared to $249,894 in March, up 28 percent from the same time last year.

The pricing measure, released today in a report by the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches, is the highest in at least the past 12 months.

Despite the substantial jump, some county Realtors remain unconcerned about another housing bubble, saying the economic conditions today are different than they were before the crash.

“Although the year-over-year median price of a single-family home in Palm Beach County increased 28 percent, the market conditions we are experiencing now are completely different,” said Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches President Elect Barb Kozlow. “Pre-bubble investors or ‘flippers’ had short-term investment goals. The financial objectives of today’s investor are long term.”

The number of closed sales on existing single-family homes in Palm Beach County last month showed a 12 percent increase to 1,266.

Sales of existing single-family homes statewide jumped 9 percent in March from last year to 19,631, with the median sales price showing a 15 percent gain to $160,000.

At the same time, the inventory of single-family homes stood at a 5.3 months’ supply, down from eight months in March 2012, according to a report released this morning from the Florida Realtors.

“We continue to be encouraged by the depth and breadth of the housing recovery,” said Florida Realtors Chief Economist Dr. John Tuccillo . “State numbers are up in virtually all important categories and down where they should be down. Even with the difficulty of access to financing for households, we still see the growth in the market continuing for at least the next 18 months.”

Palm Beach County housing numbers should be out shortly.

Nationwide, the number of homes sold last month dropped .6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.92 million homes in March from February, but remain 10 percent higher than March of 2012.

Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, said the dip in sales is because of the lack of inventory of homes.

“Buyer traffic is 25 percent above a year ago when we were already seeing notable gains in shopping activity,” he said. “In the same timeframe housing inventories have trended much lower, which is continuing to pressure home prices.”

The national median home price for all housing types last month was $184,300, which is nearly 12 percent higher than March 2012. The increase is the strongest since November 2005 when it rose 13 percent from the previous year.

Tags: bnblogs

This entry was posted on Monday, April 22nd, 2013 

Home prices rose in Feb. by most in 7 years

WASHINGTON – April 3, 2013 – U.S. home prices jumped in February by the largest amount in seven years, evidence that the housing recovery strengthened ahead of the all-important spring-buying season.

Home prices rose 10.2 percent in February compared with a year earlier, CoreLogic, a real estate data provider, said Wednesday. The annual gain was the biggest since March 2006. Prices have now increased on an annual basis for 12 straight months, underscoring the recovery’s steady momentum.

The gains were broad-based. Prices rose in 47 of 50 states and in all but four of the nation’s 100 largest metro areas. Delaware, Alabama and Illinois were the only states to report price declines.

CoreLogic’s measure of national prices also rose 0.5 percent in February from January. That’s a solid increase during the winter months, when sales typically slow.

An increase in home sales has helped lift prices. In February, sales of previously owned homes reached the highest level in more than three years. Still, much of the demand has come from investors. Sales to first-time buyers remain below healthy levels.

Another reason prices are rising is the supply of available homes for sale remains extremely low. In January, it reached a 13-year low.

The supply of homes for sale did rise in February for the first time in 10 months. That suggests more people are gaining confidence in the housing recovery, which could help ease supply concerns and drive sales higher in the coming months.

The price gains were concentrated in the West, according to CoreLogic. The states with the biggest price gains were Nevada, where prices rose 19.3 percent, followed by Arizona, with 18.6 percent, and California, with 15.3 percent.

Hawaii and Idaho rose 14.6 percent and 13.5 percent, respectively.