There is little consensus among experts these days on when the Real Estate Market will bottom out. Some predict the market won't hit bottom until 2010-while others argue that the last quarter of 2008 will see improvement in market conditions overall. Is the glass half empty or half full?

    Amidst the conflict in expert opinions and market data interpretations of sales achieved and inventory status of existing homes, there is a crystal clear view beneath it all.

    While the statistics suggest that the median price of existing homes has  fallen yet again,  it is in the wake of hyper inflated value.

    In 2003 the median price for a home in Florida was $151,000. Today the median price is 198,000.  An INCREASE of 30.9%

      HOMES HAVE ALWAYS BEEN LONG TERM INVESTMENTS

     A home purchased in 2003 despite the radical Market swings has still achieved a net gain of 6.19%.   Historically over a 33 year period of tracking home price fluctuations, this seems to suggest that the market is stabilizing.

In addition Mortgage rates are approaching a 40 year low.

According to FAR. "Florida's median sales price for existing homes last month was $198,900; a year ago, it was $239,000 for a 17 percent decrease. But, looking back to April 2003, the statewide median sales price for single-family homes has increased about 30.9 percent over the five-year-period, according to FAR records - at that time, the statewide existing-home median price was $151,900. The median is the midpoint; half the homes sold for more, half for less."

Foreclosures have spiked in Osceola County, Florida 76% over the same period last year. From 135  in April of 2007  to 563 in 2008. As Lawrence Yen, Chief economist of the National Association of Realtors said, "there is plentiful supply".  

What fueled the housing boom was a shortage of existing homes. 

THE SHOE IS ON THE OTHER FOOT

Now that Bank Owned Real Estate inventories are pregnant with multitudes of properties, the concern most lending institutions have, is focused on slowing down the growth rate of the foreclosed properties.

The reclaimed properties represent more mouths to feed, added expenses in legal costs, carrying costs, and community fees.  They answer to many unhappy investors with  insatiable appetites for gains, not losses want to liabilities converted back to assets.

Banks are now slowing the caravan to the Courthouse down.

For consumers this means that the roll back pricing to the pre-boom era is in fact good news.  Yes, the decline is favorable.

It ripens the market for achieving the pick of the crop in existing homes. The decline is being measured from the hyper inflated values achieved in 2004-2005  when prices fueled by the home shortage spiked off the chart.

What made Florida appealing to home buyers was the value they could achieve when compared to similar properties in other regions.  In other words, Florida was affordable. During the surge to buy in 2005, many buyers found themselves shut out of the market as priced rose daily-much like gas prices these days.

    It is a matter

    of Perspective

 For some the shoe may still not fit,

                                       for others, it may feel just right.