Davidson Realty, Inc.

Jacksonville FL Real Estate Trends in February

March 30, 2011

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Posted by in Northeast Florida Market Trends

Every morning in Africa a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn’t matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle. When the sun comes up, you better start running. ~African proverb

I thought you might enjoy this proverb. It seems to describe most of us in the real estate industry these days. We are seeing a lot more buyer activity this spring and seem to be running hard every day!

I continue to be encouraged by the real estate market activity we are seeing. There were 1,525 pending sales in February 2011 compared to 1,377 in February 2010 for a 10.7% increase.  February 2009 pending sales were 1,001 so you can see steady improvement.

As you know, I pay the most attention to closings because it is so hard these days to get a transaction to close. Closings are showing the same encouraging trends as pending sales. There were 1,156 closings in February compared to 1,024 closings in February 2010 for a 12.9% increase. There were 873 closings in February 2009.

The trends for prices are not as positive. I believe this is mainly due to the amount of distressed closings. Sixty percent of all closings reported in February 2011 were lender-mediated meaning a foreclosure or a short sale. This is the highest percentage we have seen. The number of traditional closings in February 2011 was down 22% from February 2010 but the lender mediated closings were up 61%. The median sales price of the traditional sales of $165,000 was up 1.9% over February 2010 and the lender-mediated sales price of $82,900 was down 24.2% when compared to February 2010.

The median sales price for all closings in the Northeast Florida Association of Realtors market area is $115,900. The median sales price is down 12.9% from February 2010’s median sales price of $133,000. The median price was $158,000 in February 2009. Looking at previous months or averaging the past 12 months is the same result. The median price bounced around all during 2010 but it has dropped each of the last 3 months due to the continued increase in lender mediated transactions.

The average sales price in February 2011 is $160,409. It hasn’t fallen as much as the median price. It is down 4% from February 2010 which was $167,078. February 2009 was $175,727. If you look at the current 12 month average compared to last years 12 month average, it is down 5.4%. At Davidson Realty we are seeing a few more buyers purchasing mid and higher priced homes than we have seen for the past few years, which might bring the average price up a little over the next few months.

The inventory numbers continue to show improvement; which, I believe is being influenced by a significant pent up demand from sellers. The percent of original list price received is down to 86.5%. The housing affordability index continues to rise.

I love looking at the market numbers. There are positive trends in sales activity but the trends are still negative for pricing. As I have mentioned, we are seeing more buyer activity and I believe we will see this activity turn into closings in April, May and June.

If you know of anyone considering a career in real estate, please give me a call. I would love to add a few good agents to our team. Enjoy this beautiful weather in Northeast Florida and “keep running”.

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About the Author
Sherry Davidson
President of Davidson Realty

Since launching Davidson Realty in 1989, Sherry Davidson has built the firm to include nearly 60 agents and exceed $100 million in annual sales. She is known throughout the First Coast as an authority on all things residential real estate, having served on the Board of Directors for Northeast Florida Association of Realtors, Florida Realtors® (a division of the National Association of Realtors), and Builders Care (charitable arm of Northeast Florida Builders Association).

Thanks to Sherry’s leadership, Davidson Realty has been recognized as one of the state’s Best Companies to Work For (Florida Trend Magazine), as well as one of the region's Best Places to Work and 50 Fastest Growing Companies (Jacksonville Business Journal). Get to know Davidson Realty’s talented team of agents by clicking here or call us at (904) 940-5000.

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