The April Real Estate Report Card
What’s the state of Florida home loans?
Previous real estate report cards helped give potential buyers and sellers a good idea of an issue such as this. With that in mind, here’s a look at how Florida real estate and the national housing market has fared in April.
The economy continues to run at a typical pace of growth, while the housing market is not experiencing the usual spring improvement. Despite sales that are generally below expectations, almost all housing market indicators exceed their historical averages.
Mortgage Rates: B
At month’s end, both fixed and adjustable Florida home loan rates had risen from February. The average fixed mortgage rate rose to 6.35 percent, and the one-year adjustable mortgage rate rose to 5.51 percent. The spread between the two has narrowed for 12 months in a row. The percentage of home loans with an adjustable rates fell to at 28.7 percent in March.
Existing Home Market: B+
Existing home sales rebounded, following two months of decline. The annual sales volume increased to 6.9 million sales per year, with increases in each region of the country except the South. The median existing home price fell to $209,000. The inventory of existing homes remained flat at 5.3 months. The pending home sales index rose in February, reaching 117.7.
New Home Market: C+
The new home market is showing signs of slowing, as annualized new home sales fell nearly 11 percent in February to 1.08 million units, and were down 13 percent from one year ago. The median new home price fell to $230,400. The housing market index decreased to 55. just slightly below the historical median. The supply of unsold homes jumped to 6.3 months, its highest value in 10 years.
Housing Supply: B-
Annualized housing starts decreased to 2.12 million in February, which is down 8 percent from the revised January numbers and down 5 percent from February 2005. Single-family starts fell 2 percent for the month to 1.8 million. Single-family permits, meanwhile, fell 3 percent from January to 1.64 million, and total permits fell to 2.15 million.
