North Palm Beach single family home sales drop related to inventory shortage
Everywhere one looks there are signs of the troubled housing market finally recovering with a firm foundation. Bidding wars have become commonplace with properties selling above list price and in some cases above appraised valuations. As we turn from the spring buying season to the summer months things have changed and buyers in the northern Palm Beach County area are finding that it is not that easy to find a home.
There are certainly bumps in the road ahead with millions of homeowners across the country owing more on their mortgages than the property is worth and the level of foreclosures expected to pick up in the coming months. But the demand seems to be stronger than the supply locally and it sure feels like we are starting to move strongly from the bottom of this abyss that started over 7 years ago
Let’ take a look at where May sales ended up in the local area;
#1 Jupiter -
#2 Tequesta -
#2 Hobe Sound -
#4 Palm Beach Gardens -
#5 North Palm Beach - down 36%
#5 Juno Beach - down 36%
There is no doubt that the lack of inventory is having an effect on sales numbers as buyers are out there hoping to lock in interest rates that are beyond low on a historical basis. While up last week the average overnight rate on a 30 year fixed mortgage remain at 3.67% which shows the overall economic recovery is still fragile at best. If we look at the average of the 6 reporting municipalities there was a 7% decrease in sales in May when compared to April numbers. Looking back to sales in May of 2011 sales were up an average of 14% from year ago numbers.
With that being said sales numbers were all across the board and we next move in this months report with a tie in 5th place and North Palm Beach where single family sales were down 36% from April numbers. Keep in mind that we are following on the heels of a very strong month when sales were up 133% from March so the decline must be interpreted in relationship to the overall trend which remains strong. During May a total of 9 North Palm Beach single family homes changed hands compared with 14 during the previous month. With this performance we remain very slightly behind the 12 month average which stands at 9.42 and also slightly behind the 2011 pace when 10 North Palm Beach single family homes sold in May. 
While sales decreased we did have sales in every price category but there was only 1 sales in each price range except between $300,001 and $500,000 which accounted for 45% of all sales durning the month. The chart below shows the percentage of sales by price category for the month of May.
With the bulk of sales between $300,001 and $500,000 we would expect to see the median sales price put in a strong showing and that is what we witnessed in May. In fact, the median sales price for North Palm Beach single family homes jumped 55% to $430,000 far above the $277,500 we saw in April. With this showing we remained far ahead of the 12 month moving average which stands at $296,158 and also above the median price from May 2011 which stood at $367,500. It was also the 2nd highest monthly showing we have seen in North Palm Beach home prices over the past 16 months a very bullish sign indeed. The chart below shows median prices on a monthly basis over the previous 12 month period.
Always interesting in the south Florida housing markets.......
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