Florida Realtors Release Findings, Profiles of 2005’s Home Buyers & Sellers
Last week, the Florida Association of Realtors have released a report — one based on an even more exhaustive report — the National Association of Realtors Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers. You can pick up the full report for $50, or you can read the condensed version, as reported by the Naples Sun-Times, below…
– Technology is in, apparently. In 2005, 77 percent used the Internet to begin their home search, up from only two percent a decade earlier. The second most popular means of finding a home? Good old yard signs, at 71 percent.
– More than half (54 percent) of buyers visited the National Association of Realtors online, followed by multiple listing service (MLS) sites (50 percent), real estate company sites (38 percent), agent websites (31 percent) and local newspaper sites (15 percent).
– In the case of For Sale By Owner (FSBO) sales, 13 percent of transactions were completed without the assistance of a real estate professional last year. Of those deals, 39 percent were between parties that knew each other in advance. The FSBO market share was at 14 percent in both 2003 and 2004.
– Of buyers that used the web to search for a home, 81 percent then completed the transaction through a real estate agent, while 63 percent of non-Internet users used a professional.
– Sellers who used a professional to market and sell their homes earned 16 percent more than those who sold as FSBO. The median price was $230,000, compared to $198,000 for FSBO (clearly these numbers mean little to those being squeezed in Naples, Sarasota or Palm Beach).
– Married couples accounted for 61 percent of transactions, with single women buying 21 percent of homes, single men making up 9 percent and unmarried couples contributing 7 percent. Two percent were listed as “other.” Dogs or cats, maybe? Either that, or perhaps real estate investment trusts (REITs).
– The typical buyer looked at nine properties, took eight weeks to buy a home and moved 12 miles from his/her previous residence.
– The typical seller placed a home on the market for four weeks, had lived in it for six years prior to its sale, and moved 15 miles to the new residence. The average seller had owned three homes previously, including the one just sold. Condo flipping, anyone?
– Four out of 10 people surveyed were first-time buyers, the median age of whom was 32 years, with a median household income of $57,200. On a home costing $150,000 (which these days is found more frequently in North Florida) the typical buyer made a down payment of two percent. However, 43 percent purchased with no money down.
– Of first-time buyers who elected to make a down payment, 23 percent did so with the help of a relative or friend.
– Overall, the typical repeat buyer of 2005 was 46 years old and had a household income of $83,200, placing a 21 percent down payment on a home costing $235,000, according to the survey. A lucky 11 percent of repeat buyers paid for their home outright.
– The most important considerations of buyers new and old were neighborhood quality (68 percent), proximity to work/school (43 percent) and proximity to family/friends (36 percent). The quality of the area’s school district (23 percent) was the only other factor cited by more than a fifth of those surveyed.
These “desirability determinates” may not do justice to the demand for South Florida real estate, compared with much of the nation. What about factors like sunshine, warmth, outdoor activities, amenities and cultural offerings? Quality of life, aside from cost, has to rank higher here. If you among those fretting about the housing bubble and wondering if people are going to stop moving here, you just answered your own question in all likelihood. Nothing short of a meteoric rise in rates of Florida home loans is going to quell demand in this region.
