The February data is out and Lawrence Yun, National Association of REALTORS® chief economist, is reporting a drop in February’s existing home sales. After a rise in January sales, there could be several reasons for this drop, but the most likely reason is the bad weather across the country in February. The good news is that Mr. Yun still feels that we will finish the year strong and we should see rising sales in the coming months. A reduction in appraisal issues, less stringent underwriting standards and continued job growth are some factors that could drive a continued recovery in our national real estate market. For information on our local South Florida market visit our Local Market Watch page.
Some other interesting data from this report:
- There is a large gap between the price of new construction and existing homes, 45% versus a normal 15% difference.
- Home sales are actually up in homes under $100,000 and homes over $500,000
- Cash purchases were 33% of the total sales, which may be an all time high
- Distressed sales were 39% of the total sales
- Appraisals caused 10% of transactions to fall through and caused delays in an additional 10% of transactions.
