Posted August 27, 2007 22:28

With positive economic conditions such as low mortgage interest rates and job growth continuing in Florida, statewide sales of existing single-family homes totaled 11,674 in July and were closer to activity in July 2001 and 2002 – before the housing boom years – than the July 2006 figures, when 15,378 homes sold for a 24 percent decrease in the year-to-year comparison, according to the Florida Association of Realtors® (FAR).

Florida’s median sales price for existing single-family homes last month was $237,500; a year ago, it was $250,400 for a 5 percent decrease. The median is the midpoint; half the homes sold for more, half for less. In July 2002, the statewide median sales price for single-family homes was $141,700, for an increase of 67.6 percent over the five-year-period, according to FAR records.

In June 2007, the national median sales price for existing single-family homes was $230,300, up 0.1 percent from the previous year, according to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR). In California, the statewide median resales price was $594,260 in June; in Massachusetts, it was $364,000; in Maryland, it was $325,427; and in New York, it was $250,000.

NAR’s latest market outlook calls for existing home sales to gain momentum by the end of the year, with broader improvement in sales activity in 2008. “Existing-home sales should be relatively stable over the next few months, holding in a modest range, with some pent-up demand growing from buyers who’ve been on the sidelines,” says NAR Senior Economist Lawrence Yun. While noting that sales could be temporarily affected by recent mortgage industry disruptions, Yun added that the “fundamental momentum clearly suggests stabilizing price trends in many local markets.”

©2007 FLORIDA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS