Charlotte County Home Sales Dip in January

Only 155 Charlotte County home sales were registered in January, the worst month since Hurricane Charley swept through and radically altered the local real estate market a few years ago.

Statistics released by the Florida Association of Realtors support the view of many local real estate agents and prospective sellers that the Charlotte County housing market is stuck on “slow,” at least for the time being.

The glacial January represented a 36 percent drop from 243 dwellings sold in the Punta Gorda metropolitan statistical area in December. It was also a 20 percent drop from 194 houses in January 2006.

The other lowest month was also 194, in November. The biggest sales month since Charley was in June 2005, when Florida mortgage rates were at record lows and 490 houses changed owners.

The reported median price for January was $199,400, down nearly 5 percent from $209,100 in December and 12 percent from $227,000 in January 2006.

The median price is a typical market price in which half of the houses sell for more, half for less - and is used as a good reference point for the cost of Florida mortgage loans in a particular area.

January’s slow market serves as a strange addition to a 2006 fourth quarter report released by the state in mid-February that showed the Punta Gorda area actually outperforming the state.

While larger markets ended 2006 with double-digit declines in sales, 663 houses were sold in Charlotte County, just 11 fewer than the last three months of 2005.

Meanwhile, median prices were dropping about 10 percent, to $209,700. Many local Realtors viewed this as a healthy market correction. Many homeowners had listed their properties at a price the market no longer could support. They were facing a stark choice of either cutting their asking prices or keeping their houses on the market indefinitely.

If January started out bad for the local real estate market, it wasn’t so great in other parts of Florida either. Statewide, 9,382 houses changed ownership, a 27 percent drop from January 2006.

But the median price - much as it had during most of 2006 - remained high at $239,300, just 2 percent down from January last year. People seeking a little relief in the form of Florida home loan costs may find themselves out of luck, if prices don’t fall even as demand does.

Although there are major price corrections taking place in various Florida urban markets, it has yet to translate into a trend toward more affordable housing statewide. Generally, as a pricey market like Sarasota goes down, some affordable market like Lakeland goes up.