Jacksonville Real Estate Trends for August – Days on the Market Down to 80 Days!

“You don’t become great by trying to be great. You become great by wanting to do something, and then doing it so hard that you become great in the process.”  – Randall Munroe

I am truly hoping my Atlanta Braves play baseball so hard they become great this year. They have had a tremendous season and now the great ones will win it all. I love the post season.

The real estate market continues a slow and steady recovery even though we have seen a rise in mortgage interest rates. Pending and closed sales are up, prices are up, new listings are up, days on market are down, and inventory and months supply of homes for sale are down. Everything is going in the right direction.

Pending sales (contracts written) in August 2013 are 33% higher than August 2012 and year-to-date 2013 pending sales are up by 30%. Closings are up 16% in August over August last year and 24% year-to-date. Closings are still difficult. We are not having as many problems with appraisals; however, the lenders are still looking for the perfect file. There seem to be new conditions for the borrower a few days before closing when emotions are high.

New construction is on the rise. At Davidson Realty, 41% of our closings for August were new construction. However,  because many builders are still short-handed, and the recent rain wreaked havoc on the construction process, a lot of new construction closings have been delayed and will close in September.

It is interesting to see that Lender-mediated closings are up 1% over last August and traditional closings are up 25%. Lender mediated closings were 36% of the total closings in August, down from 41% last August.

The days a property is on the market continues to decline. The average for August 2013 was 80 days compared to 111 days last August for a 30% decline.

The median sales price is up 15% year-to-date over the same period in 2012 and the average sales price is up 9% year-to-date.

We are very interested in listing great homes because there are so many active buyers right now. If you know of anyone that may be interested in selling their home, please let us know and we will take great care of them.

The final quarter of the year is upon us. I hope you are on track to meet your goals and have your plan in place to finish the year strong. Like the quote says, do something so hard you become great in the process.