Daytona Beach Home Prices, Sales Down
Daytona Beach area home sales are slowing down. And getting worse.
After six months of trying to sell her Ormond Beach home, Susan McDaniels is getting scared that she won’t recoup much of the money she spent on improving the kitchen or the new appliances. Among other things.
McDaniels said her first instinct was to price it at $279,000, a similar asking price to what the house sold for about a year ago.
But Florida real estate agents told her that was too high, so she listed it for $229,000. Then she dropped it to $224,000, then $219,000. As of Monday, the asking price was $209,000.
“And we’re still not showing it. I just have to hope in a month or so that when the snowbirds arrive, we’ll get a bite,” said McDaniels, 65.
Such is the state of the Daytona Beach housing market, post boom. Sales have fallen sharply, and now average prices have dropped, too.
Sales of existing - as opposed to new - single-family homes in Volusia and Flagler County in July lagged behind sales for the same period last year.
There were 529 existing single-family homes sold in the Daytona Beach area, which includes the two counties. That’s down 25 percent from a year ago.
Last month’s figures did not include sales in the New Smyrna Beach area, as they did the year before.
The median sale price was $203,800, a 5 percent decrease from the $214,400 median posted a year ago for the same time. However, the median price rose from $197,100 in June.
Broker Greg Antonich of Re/Max Realty said sellers have to compete against the lowest-priced houses on the market in the same category.
“Buyers are scraping the bottom of the market and coming back to the best price in whatever category” in which they are looking, Antonich said. “But those priced competitively are moving.”
Statewide sales of existing single-family homes fell 24 percent from July 2006. The median price was $237,500, down 5 percent from a year ago, even though Florida mortgage rates are virtually the same.
The National Association of Realtors’ latest outlook calls for the existing home sales to gain momentum by the end of the year.
The median sales price for existing single-family homes nationally was $228,600 last month, down 1 percent from July 2006.
The were 73 sales of existing condominiums in the Volusia-Flagler County area, excluding New Smyrna Beach, in July. That’s down 18 percent from a year earlier. The median price, however, rose 16 percent to $303,800.
“It’s a tough market,” Florida mortgage broker Sandy Stutz said.
Many properties are staying on the market six months or more.
SOURCE: Daytona Beach News-Journal
