Category — Statistics

CLEARWATER, FLORIDA – The Malott Group

Two national studies – one from Realtor.com and one from Trulia – suggest that some Florida markets are poised for a real estate rebound.

“This is a positive trend for Florida,” says John Tuccillo, Florida Realtors chief economist. “While Trulia and Realtor.com aren’t completely accurate in home prices and sales – mainly because they base their numbers on only homes listed on their website – it’s useful to look at visitor behavior and note the trends. If Trulia says more visitors are doing a home search in the Miami market, for example, it probably follows that Miami is experiencing an upswing in demand.”

Realtor.com’s Top Ten Turnaround Report

In Realtor.com’s “Top Ten Turnaround Report,” six Florida cities were considered good bets for an upswing in sales. Realtor.com, which is owned by The National Association of Realtors®, says it created a formula to rank a city’s turnaround potential based on recent price appreciation, changes in inventory, median age of inventory, number of Realtor.com searches by visitors and area unemployment.

Realtor.com attributes the Florida cities’ success to year-over-year home price increases, reductions in inventory, lower unemployment rates and, in some cases, an upswing in international buyers.

Realtor.com’s turnaround list includes:

1. Miami: Ranked No. 1 in the report, Miami hit the top based on “a healthy inventory that is only half the size from a year ago,” a lower foreclosure rate than the national average, and an increase in condo sales.
2.  Orlando: While No. 2, Realtor.com says Orlando had more home searches than any other city when compared to the total number of listings. It also had a significant drop in the number of foreclosures.
3. Fort Myers-Cape Coral: Median prices in Fort Myers-Cape Coral have increased year-over-year, foreclosures are down, inventory is lower and foreign buyers are attracted to the area’s real estate prices.
4. Phoenix-Mesa, Ariz.
5. Fort Lauderdale: Inventory has decreased and prices have increased, says Realtor.com.
6. Sarasota-Bradenton: About one in 10 foreign buyers look in Sarasota-Bradenton for a home, Realtor.com says. Listing prices have increased and inventory has decreased.
7. Lakeland-Winter Haven: According to Realtor.com, the number of distressed sales has decreased significantly and prices have gone up.
8. Boise City, Idaho
9. Fort Wayne, Ind.
10. Ann Arbor, Mich.

Trulia’s Metro Movers Report

Trulia has debuted a new report that analyzed its home searches.

In one study, Trulia looked at the number of people who searched for housing in a city – including renters – and compared it to the number of city residents looking elsewhere for a home. An area with a high number of inbound searches and a low number of outbound searches, Trulia reasons, suggests an increased demand for housing.

According to the study, the North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota area had six times more searches by inbound people than outbound people, landing it in the list’s No. 1 position, but four other Florida cities also made the top 10 list:

1. North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota
2. Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA
3. Charleston-North Charleston-Summerville, SC
4. Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach
5. Cape Coral-Fort Myers
6. West Palm Beach-Boca Raton-Boynton Beach
7. Fort Worth-Arlington, TX
8. Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA
9. Las Vegas-Paradise, NV
10. Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford

Trulia also looked at the Chicago and New York City markets to see where residents wanted to move. Three Florida cities ranked in the top 10 for Chicago residents: Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater (No. 4), Cape Coral-Fort Myers (No. 6) and Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford (No. 10).

In New York City, five Florida cities made the list: Miami-Miami-Beach-Kendall (No. 2), Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford (No. 3), West Palm Beach-Boca Raton-Boynton Beach (No. 5), Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach (No. 6) and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater (No. 7).

© 2011 Florida Realtors®

So, how is the Clearwater real estate market?

This is a difficult question to answer and it is the number one question I am asked. It is all a matter of perspective and where you are in the spectrum of the real estate. I don’t recommend reading the daily newspaper headlines to understand the real estate market. In fact, I suggest stop reading the real estate headlines all together. They are far too general to be helpful.

Here are some of my many answers depending on the situation.

• If you are a buyer, it is a great time to buy. Why? There is a large supply of homes on the market for sale, which means heavy price competition and ultimately lower prices.
• If you are investor, load up. It is a great time to buy and it may be a long time before housing goes on sale like this again.
• If you are a renter, it is great time to rent. Why? There are more homes on the market not selling, so there are more property choices for renters which mean lower rental prices.
• If you are renter and thinking about buying, it is not a great time to rent. Buy. Why? It you are considering buying and renting instead, you are missing the best time to buy which is now. You will only know you missed your opportunity when prices start increasing.
• If you have owned your home more than two years, selling and then buying in the Clearwater area, it is great real estate market. Why? In most cases you purchased below the top of the market and will be able to benefit from the listing competition when you purchase your next home in Clearwater.
• If you have purchased your home in the last two years, selling and moving to a hot real estate market, it may not be a great real estate market. Why? It is likely you purchased at the top of the market and moving to a market where you may need to purchase at the top of the market again. Live in the next home for 5 years or so and history says you will do fine and make up for any temporary loss.
• If you have owned your home more than two years, selling and then renting in the Clearwater area, it is great real estate market. Why? It is likely you have equity in your home and will benefit from the large rental inventory when renting a home.

The reality is that everyone’s situation is different and it is very important to get the facts through a consultation with a professional instead of reading the latest newspaper headlines. The media does not know your situation.

Good news does not sell newspapers.