Pending home sales pull back for 5th straight month
Summer isn’t over in south Florida. Here the high temperatures and high humidity stay around longer than many parts of the country and I always use the autumnal equinox as my “official” end of summer. This year that happens in Jupiter at 4:21 AM on September 23rd. I plan on being sleeping but when I wake up on the 23rd it’s fall in my world.
Summer has been interesting in the local real estate world with home inventory falling week after week after week. We use the summer solstice as our “official” start of summer and since then the number of properties available for sale in the Northern Palm Beaches has dropped from 1,768 to 1,610 a substantial decline of about 9%. Over the past 30 days, inventory has essentially dropped for the 8th straight month. Down just 1% since last month but down 17.5% from year ago levels.
The good news is we have just seen our very 1st real sign of stabilization as inventory has actually increased over the past 2 weeks. And it has been a rather healthy increase of 2.8%. The reality is, not that many new people are listing their homes but sales have dropped off and with that decline median prices of single family homes have retreated a bit. Pending home sales remain in their bearish trend dropping again 4.8% over the past 2 weeks, 7.5% over the past month and down 28.5% since this 5 month slide began back in April. The drop can be blamed on seasonal factors, on fewer options for buyers, but the fact remains demand has been weak. Prices held up fairly well but median single family home prices are down 2 straight months but still 8.2% above last years numbers. Median condo prices have fared better over the summer months staying flat since the middle of June.
Where we go from here is going to be interesting. All signs point to another year of record traffic in, and around, Jupiter. The stock market needs to forget it’s recent volatility but we see high demand and lower inventory pointing us towards higher prices ahead. Sellers of properties where there are few choices and high demand have priced well ahead of the market and we anticipate buyers stretching for these prices once summer is in the rear view mirror and the snow birds fly back into town. Nothing in todays numbers point to anything but higher prices for the best real estate in the Jupiter area. Always interesting, always fun.
Fins up.....
Tom Priester
Principal Broker
Paradise Sharks
561.308.0175
#jupiterhomesforsale
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