Polk County Home Sales Take a Dive

Real estate signs in Polk County may not be frozen over yet, but potential buyers would have difficulty seeing smoke rising from this formerly hot housing market. Home sales in the area dropped six percent last month from their total of 627 over the same period in 2005.

Based on figures from The Ledger, this total includes existing duplexes, condos, coops, manufactured and mobile homes, modular, single-family and townhomes, as well as new home sales by Realtors.

As sales dipped, prices rose - never the best indication for those on the lookout for an affordable Florida home loan. The median price for homes in the Lakeland and Winter Haven market jumped 43 percent - from $123,700 in March 2005 to $176,300 last month.

Lakeland Realtors had 350 home sales in March, down about 7 percent from 377 a year ago.

“The market is definitely soft,” said Beverly Page, a Realtor with Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate in Lakeland. “We have an overabundance of listings that weren’t there last year.”

East Polk recorded 223 home sales, down 7 percent from 237. Bartow’s sales rose from 13 homes in March 2005 to 19 last month, an increase of about 46 percent.

“It’s bound to level off at some time,” said Matt Schreier, real estate broker for Garden Grove Realty in Winter Haven. “But what we are seeing is that new construction permits are up and resales are down. We are competing against developers who have inventories that are sitting.”

Those developers are able to give special deals, like covering closing costs, to attract more buyers, he said.

The trend in Polk County follows that around the state and nation. In Florida, sales of single-family existing homes totaled 18,881 in March, compared with 24,091 homes sold a year ago, for a 22 percent decrease. There are various views on this housing market decline.

“We may see some minor slowing in home sales as interest rates rise, but the market clearly is stabilizing,” David Lereah, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, said in a written statement. “We now see appreciation cooling to single-digit rates of price growth, another sign that the market is normalizing.”

Foreclosures have also been on the rise, as those with an adjustable rate mortgage are feeling the interest rate crunch. It’s not an ideal time to possess a Florida home loan, but a soft landing is expected throughout the market.