Today's top story: Inflation is declining and so are rates!

Hi everybody, Joe Hillner with Your Home Sold Guaranteed Realty, where we guarantee the sale of your home or I'll buy it!

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:

This past week, 71 new listings, that's better, and ranging in price from $289K to $9.75M! 10 homes back on the market, while 53 homes listed took a price decrease and 2 sellers raised their asking price. And a slightly better week, with 27 different properties under contract, and 26 going pending. 19 homes were unsuccessful in selling and were taken off the market or the listing expired outright And a big drop from week with only 23 homes sold, ranging from $445K to $8.3M!

Next up, Condos and Townhomes:

82 new listings, now that's more like it, and ranging from $115 Grand to $2.7 Million. 10 units came back on the market, 64 properties with a price decrease, and 5 sellers with an increase. And a little better week with 44 different properties under contract, and 34 going pending! 17 condos or townhomes were unsuccessful in selling and were taken off the market or the listing expired. 28 closed sales this week, just terrible, and ranging in price from $95K to $1.9M.

Here's what's making news right now.

The once-frantic pace of consumer price growth has been slowing for months, and mortgage rates seem to be following suit.

Consumer price growth cooled to a 6.5 percent annual increase last month, the sixth straight month that the cost of goods and services has declined.

And in welcome news, the average mortgage rate dipped nearly 20 basis points this week to about 6.14%. That's the lowest rates have been since the spring. Consequently, mortgage applications increased 28% over last month, which is a good improvement.


Though home prices have retreated as demand has declined, they are still nearly 11% higher than a year ago. Higher prices and a doubling of mortgage rates have made homebuying much less affordable for many people, but these recent rate declines could give some homebuyers new hope.


Lower rates boost both homebuyer demand and homebuilder sentiment, which went up last month for the first time this year. New home starts consequently increased as well. Unfortunately, we still have a shortage of supply, and the new construction won't be nearly enough to fulfill the demand.


At its final meeting of 2022, the Federal Reserve raised its rate a half of a percentage point, its seventh increase last year. That pushed the central bank’s key rate to 4.5%, its highest level in 15 years! And they have already indicated that they are likely to take several more increases this year, unless inflation drops significantly more than what we've just seen. We'll just have to hope for the best!