Thursday, May 14, 2015

Tallahassee Spring Market update and year over year market statistics for April 2015


As most of you all know, I normally send out my year over year quarterly market summary for Leon County every 3 months.  Well I was compelled to give you all an interim market update after looking over the year over year market statistics for April of this year. After looking over April's data,  I saw some surprisingly strong signs of improvement in our real estate market here in Tallahassee that I wanted to share with you.  In summary, the Spring residential real estate market here in Tallahassee seems to be red hot.  

Let's start with price.  In April of this year the average home price of a property in Leon County skyrocketed a whopping 18.3% from the same time one year ago.  That is about 3 to 4 times what would be a historically normal increase in price. 

The number of properties that sold increased by a staggering 32.7% from the same time last year while the number of properties listed for sale increased by 7% from the same time last year. 

Also, average days on the market  it took to sell a home went down by about 2%, and the average home sold for just under 96% of what the average home was listed for sale at.  

Last but not least distressed sales (foreclosures and short sales) only made up 16.5% of total sales in April 2015 compared to 20.8% in April of 2014.  Distressed sales sell at a discount and bring down values of surrounding homes, so this is good news for property values. 

Overall the market is doing better here in Tallahassee in pretty much every respect from the same time last year.  If you are a seller it means it's a great time to put your home on the market.  If your home is presentable and in good condition, you might be able to get a much better price for it that you have not been able to get in recent years. 

If you are a buyer you can expect competition from other buyers and expect multiple offers on properties that are priced at market value and are in good shape.  The demand for homes has greatly outpaced the supply for homes, so if you are a buyer you need to move quickly and have a prequalification letter or, proof of funds if paying cash, to accompany your offer so that the seller knows you mean business. This will help you stand out from the pack and hopefully get your offer accepted over other offers.  

The year over year market stats for April in Leon County are below. 

-Listings up by 7% (626 homes listed for sale).

-Sales up 32.7% (357 homes sold)

-Average prices up 18.3% (average sale price $198,452

-Average days on market down 2.9% (102 days on average to sell a home). 

-Sale to list price ratio at 95.95% (average home sold for 95.95% of asking price)

-Proportion of distressed sales compared to total sales decreased by 4.3% (distressed sales comprised 16.5% of total sales.)