Hot Florida Market...Simmering Still or Cooling Off?

There has been so much talk about which way the crazy Florida market is heading... We have seen a drastic increase in market values in our area due to a lot of investor flipping. A lot of people are worried about the "real estate bubble bursting" and we have not seen anything out of the ordinary for this time of the year. People are still selling and buying homes, and at today's interest rates, who can blame them? Home prices were increasing at such a frenzied rate that it was hard for appraisers to keep up with the current market values...now that the dust has settled we can get a good look at where our market is standing.

Land values have gone up considerably and homes in newer or prestigious areas are becoming less affordable. Although we feel the market has "leveled off" to a degree, it is by no means regressing. A steady price index is evidence of that.

In the 13 years I have been selling Real Estate in Ocala, I have never seen a 38% increase in market values in one single year.



Back in October of 2005, we had 2,139 homes on the market - today (as of February 10th, 2006), the current number of homes on the market is 3,133. What does that mean? Back in 2005 hard and steady price increases forced the market into becoming a "sellers market" where we had an overabundance of buyers with very few homes to choose from - so the sellers often got their asking price or even OVER their asking price if there was a bidding war with buyers (trust me in saying juggling a few of those was an interesting experience to say the least!)...but now we have slipped back into a more stable scenario where the market has leveled out. Even land is starting to come back into focus, where back in October of 2005 we had 5047 lots on the market, and today 7,133. This is showing that prices and values are beginning to meet again and stabilizing. Yet existing home sales were up 2.9% just in December.

Needless to say, 2005 had been a VERY interesting year for real estate! I can't wait to see what 2006 will bring.

Brigitte Shultz
The Shultz Team
#1 Team at Re/Max Premier Realty
Ocala, FL
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