The State of the Real Estate Market — North Port, FL — as of May 31, 2011

The inventory of homes available for sale in North Port has been declining.  There is currently a 4 month supply of homes available for sale.  A 6 month supply is considered “neutral”, i.e., a fairly balanced market between sellers and buyers.  As of May 31, 2011, there were 606 homes for sale.  At year’s end, December 31, 2010, there were 939 homes for sale.  So, there were 333 less homes available for sale at the end of May than at year’s end, a 35% drop in inventory. A total of 159 properties sold in May 2011.  Drilling down, at what price points were the sales?  Well, 153 of the sales were for properties less than $200,000, of which 92 sold for less than $100,000 and 61 for less than $200,000.  Only 5 properties sold for more than $200,000.  In other words, 96% of all sales in North Port, during the month of May 2011, were for less than $200,000. It should come as no surprise that the impact of distressed properties (short sales or bank owned) on North Port sales and valuations has been and will continue to be significant. More than 34% of all homes for sale in the month of May were distressed properties; 208 of the 606 homes for sale were distressed sales.  Accordingly, more than 53% of the May 2011 closed sales, 85 properties, were distressed sales.  Further, closed sales under $100,000, accounted for more than 70% of all of the distressed sales in May 2011. It has been widely reported and anticipated that the number of short sales and foreclosures are likely to accelerate.  This will have further downward pressure on pricing for all properties at all price points.  The pressure to compete with these distressed sales will continue for all sellers, of all types and at all price points. Whether now is or is not the time to sell will vary from person to person.  Consideration must be had to your timeline, choice of lifestyle and cost of money, versus, how long you expect current market conditions to continue. The statistical data contained herein has been extracted from ©Trendgraphics, June 2011.