Today's hot news: Pending Home Sales Were Down 1.2% in March! Is this the end of the white hot seller's market?

Hi everybody, Joe Hillner with Your Home Sold Guaranteed Realty, where we guarantee you a cash offer on your home within 24 hours! 

Ok, so every week, I share market data to keep you informed with the local real estate market.  

Here is this week’s Boca Market Watch.

First, Single Family Homes: 52 new listings, not much, and ranging in price from $475K to another one at $13.25M. 28 homes back on the market, while 38 homes listed took a price decrease, we're seeing the price decrease numbers start to jump up the last few weeks, definitely something we need to watch, and 6 brave sellers raised their asking price - that goes under the theory that if it didn't sell, the market is going up so my house is worth more now, right?!.  And  a light week with 47 different properties under contract, and 25 going pending.  19 homes were unsuccessful in selling and were taken off the market or the listing expired outright.  And another light week for sales with 39 homes closed in the past week,  ranging from $465K to $6.25M!

Next up, Condos and Townhomes:

64 new listings, so so, and ranging from $99 Grand to $6 Million.  
16 units came back on the market, 19 properties with a price decrease, and only 4 sellers with an increase.  And a decent week with 39 different properties under contract, and 47 going pending,  And following the recent trend, only 13 condos or townhomes were unsuccessful in selling and were taken off the market or the listing expired. 64 closed sales this week, that's a so so week, and ranging in price from $90 K to $1.9M.

Here's what's making news right now.
Pending home sales dropped in March, signifying five straight months that contract activity has declined, according to the National Association of Realtors®. Month-over-month, only the Northeast saw an increase in contract signings, while the three other major U.S. regions experienced declines in transactions. All four regions reported decreases in year-over-year contract activity.

The Pending Home Sales Index is a forward-looking indicator of home sales based on contract signings, and it fell 1.2% to 103.7 in March. An index of 100 is equal to the level of contract activity in 2001.  Year-over-year, transactions dropped 8.2%. .

Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. said “The falling contract signings are implying that multiple offers will soon dissipate and be replaced by much calmer and normalized market conditions.  As it stands, the sudden large gains in mortgage rates have reduced the pool of eligible homebuyers, and that has consequently lowered buying activity.

“The aspiration to purchase a home remains, but the financial capacity has become a major limiting factor.”

In our area, the numbers are not pretty.  Closed sales of single family homes are down 29.8% in March vs last year, and down 22.4% year over year.  Condo sales are down 26.1% in March and 13.3% for the last 12 months.  And pending sales, again a forward looking metric, are down 23% for homes and 24% for condos.  

Our inventory remains way out of balance.  We currently have about 5 weeks of single family homes available in Boca, and just 3 weeks of supply of townhomes and condos.  In fact, the supply of inventory is down 36% and 71% respectively in March, ouch!

And that's what has been fueling the surge in prices.  Get this, the median sale price for a single family home in Boca in March was up 52.2%, and condos were up 31.5% vs a year ago.  Wow!  Higher mortgage rates and sustained price appreciation has led to a year-over-year increase of 31% in mortgage payments.  And despite  that, the 30% spike in lease rates has lead to more renters exploring ownership.  Affordability is a serious issue in our area, with no relief in sight.

And you know what, it's not going to improve any time soon.  Why?  The Florida Chamber of Commerce just released its 2030 Blueprint for the State of FL.  They're predicting an additional 3.5M residents by 2030, with another 3 million cars on the roads.  The numbers I've reported are predicting an additional 5 million residents by 2030.  SO if the Chamber is right and we only add 3 and a half million permanent residents in the next 8 years, where are they all gonna live?  Cuz there's no room down here, that's for sure!