Fourth Quarter Market Report - Jacksonville Beaches & Ponte Vedra Beach
Happy New Year! There are encouraging signs in the real estate market as we wrap up 2010. Pending sales are up with a 21% increase from this time last year. An increase in pending sales suggests that the glut of inventory should eventually regain balance. Closed sales have followed the same upward trend, with an 11% increase year over year. And, an additional piece of good news, the percent of original list price received at sale has increased 1% over this time last year. (Normally a one percent increase is not reason to celebrate, but in this case, it's a positive indicator because it is no longer declining).
This number suggests that sellers have become more realistic about pricing when they put their home on the market. Days on the market for residences was also down slightly, at 104 days. The Housing Affordability Index at the end of 2010 was very high with an increase of 34.5% over two years. The luxury real estate market is showing signs of life too. In 2010, 46 homes sold for more than $1 million dollars, 12 of those sales were for over $2 miliion. In 2009, only 22 homes sold for more than $1 million and only three had sale prices above $2 million. Bottom line? If you've been waiting to purchase a home, an investment property or a vacation retreat, now is the time!
Additional market trends for the Jacksonville Beaches areas (Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach and Jacksonville Beach):
- New listings are down in all three Beaches communities.
- Unfortunately, median sales prices have continued to drop in both traditional and lender-mediated sales.
- The number of days on the market before a sale has increased slightly.
In contrast, the Ponte Vedra Beach real estate market has shown signs of recovery throughout the year:
- The average sales price for Ponte Vedra Beach North has increased dramatically from $310,000 to $449,000 over the last year.
- In all of Ponte Vedra (including Nocatee) sales are up almost 30%.
- The number of days on the market before a sale increased slightly.
Short-sales and foreclosures continued to be a large factor negatively influencing our real estate market.
- In December 2010, 54% of the closed sales in the Jacksonville area were lender-mediated sales.
- Inventory of condos and townhouses continues to bog down the market. There is an oversupply of condominiums and townhouses with over four years worth of inventory.
- Prices for lender-mediated sales continue to drop in 2010 in all of the Beaches areas.
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