The number of home sales in Brevard County increased in February as prices stayed about the same, according to the Florida Association of Realtors.

The number of existing single-family home sales on the Space Coast rose to 474 in February, up 42 percent from 333 in January.

In addition, the number of existing condominium sales in Brevard increased to 103 last month, more than doubling from 42 in January as Florida home mortgage loan costs remain advantageous to buyers.

Housing sales normally increase from January to February, statistics show, but February’s increase marked only the third time in eight months the number of local sales have gone up from the previous month.

Meanwhile, the median sales price for local existing single-family homes dropped slightly to $201,100 in February, a slight drop from $202,500 in January and $232,700 in February 2006.

The median sales price for existing condos increased to $168,800, up from $164,000 in January, but down from $206,300 in February 2006.

“It doesn’t look like home prices are going to fall any more,” said Wayne Archer, director of the University of Florida’s Bergstrom Center for Real Estate Studies.

“When prices maintain the same level as inflation, then we’re probably in some kind of equilibrium. It indicates the market is stabilizing.”

However, Ingo Winzer, president of the Local Market Monitor, a firm that tracks national and Florida housing market trends, said it’s more likely that prices will continue to fall.

That’s partly fueled by investors and so-called “property flippers” selling off the homes they bought when prices were rising.

National and statewide trends are a different story. But homeowners and Realtors have varying takes on the market in Brevard County.

Stacey Barin is about to close the sale of her home north of Melbourne for $425,000. Barin had the house on the market for six months, originally at an asking price of $475,000. She’s relatively satisfied with the price she’s getting.

“I have no complaints, because I’ve got a contract on it, and I’m selling it now,” she said.

Mark Buhrkoff of Satellite Beach, on the other hand, said trying to sell his home has been a disappointment. He has been trying to sell the house himself for a year, dropping the asking price from $350,000 to $275,000, but that sum still hasn’t yielded any interest from prospective Florida mortgage applicants.

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Filings of new home permits in Brevard County in February fell 73 percent compared with February 2006, a new report shows.

It was also down 34 percent from January 2007, according to Florida Today.

Local home builders filed 169 permits for new-home construction last month, compared with 637 filings in February 2006, the Home Builders & Contractors Association of Brevard’s report shows.

In yet another sign of a sagging Brevard County housing market, the total value of the February permit filings was $35.18 million. In January, home builders filed for 258 permits valued at $58.01 million.

Nationally, new-home construction rebounded in February following a steep January slide. But home builder confidence remains mild as analysts point to a further decline in permits as a bad sign for the troubled industry.

Franck Kaiser, Executive V.P. and CEO of the Home Builders & Contractors Association of Brevard, was surprised a bit by February’s low permit total.

“I know things are bad, but I didn’t expect it to be that low,” Kaiser said.

The permit numbers mainly reflect the number of people buying new homes that have yet to be built, and, right now, that number is low.

The dip in Florida mortgage activity and new-home construction, as well as sales of existing single-family homes and condos, in the past few months is worrisome because real estate has meant huge support for the local and national economies.

The worry is that if home construction slows, so will the economy.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen out there,” Kaiser said. “It’s certainly affecting the entire economy.”

Joseph DiPrima, president of DiPrima Custom Homes in Satellite Beach, said his permit filings the past few months have been few and far between. DiPrima builds custom homes in the $600,000 to $1.5 million range.

“It’s pretty slow,” DiPrima said. “There’s a lot of inventory out there to choose from, and there are not many buyers.”

DiPrima said a sense of urgency seems to be missing among buyers. That marks a change from several months ago, when the turnaround time from listing to someone making an offer often was only days.

Kaiser said home builders have been concentrating on selling off inventory of homes that already have been built - mainly from a boom in building when the local real estate market was better.

Kaiser said he doesn’t expect substantial improvements in the market any time soon, even as Florida mortgage loan costs remain historically low.

“I don’t expect March’s numbers to be much better,” he said. “We’re hoping things pick up in the second quarter.”

Ritch Workman, president-elect of the Florida Association of Mortgage Brokers, said he has seen an increase in buyers in Brevard this year, compared with the beginning of last year.

“Right now, there’s a lot of bargain-shoppers,” especially for homes priced below $250,000, Workman said.

However, his Florida mortgage brokers aren’t seeing a lot of demand for new construction, and don’t anticipate 2007 to be a record-breaker.

More home market news is expected on Friday, when the National Association of Realtors and the Florida Association of Realtors are scheduled to release sales data for February.

Continue reading in Florida Today …

The aftershocks of the Brevard County housing market slowdown apparently are being felt in the region’s employment rolls.

According to figures released Thursday by Florida’s Agency for Workforce Innovation, Brevard County’s unemployment rose to 3.8 percent in January.

That’s up from 3.2 percent in both the previous month and in January 2006, and signifies by far the largest one-month increase since just after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The last time the local unemployment rate was as high as 3.8 percent was in March 2005. And the last time the rate rose at least 0.6 percentage points was in October 2001, when it rose to 5.7 percent, up from 4.2 percent the previous month.

Local officials believe the increase in the jobless rate is related to a leveling off in the Florida real estate industry that’s occurring in many markets throughout the state, including the Space Coast.

As Florida mortgage costs continue to squeeze homeowners, the biggest year-over-year job losses came in the construction industry and professional and business services sector. Each saw a reduction of 700 jobs.

Joan Van Scyoc, a spokeswoman for the Brevard Workforce Development Board, which runs the Job Link offices in Cocoa, Palm Bay and Titusville, said employment officials believe both sectors are related to housing market woes, which persist despite low mortgage rates.

While housing has slowed in Brevard County and elsewhere, many people believe the market is moving to more rational levels, compared with the hyperactivity of 2003 through parts of last year.

The slowdown is most noticeable in construction - contractors, plumbers, electricians and laborers - but also in areas such as the processing of Florida mortgages and other services related to the real estate market.

That could explain the job losses in professional and business services sector.

“We think this is a ripple effect,” Van Scyoc said.

In 2006, the total value of housing permits in Brevard was $973.45 million, the lowest annual total in Brevard since permitted home construction hit $810.05 million in 2002, according to data released by the Home Builders & Contractors Association of Brevard.

The total number of permits countywide for single-family and multi-family home units dropped to 4,899 in 2006 from 8,663 in 2005.

Other than the downfall of the Florida housing market as a whole, Van Scyoc was at a loss to explain the rise in the county’s unemployment.

“If you looked at the local economy in January 2006, it was going great guns, more so than it ever had. Maybe it’s just getting back to where it’s supposed to be,” Van Scyoc said.

Follow the link below to continue reading this article in Florida Today …

A new federal study indicates the Brevard County housing market - while a lot less strong than it was in recent years - remained in the top third in the country for price appreciation over the last year.

The study, conducted every three months by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO), found the value of homes in Brevard County rose 9.67 percent from the third quarter of 2005 to the third quarter of 2006. That ranked Brevard in the top third of U.S. metropolitan areas in the ranking - 81st out of 275.

The findings differ sharply from data recently compiled by the Florida Association of Realtors, which showed a 10.8 percent drop in home resale prices during the past year.

The difference reflects how the two studies are done. The OFHEO index is based on repeated sales on the same property over time, for single-family properties that were financed or refinanced by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. The agency’s index attempts to look at the experience on homes and who’s buying them with Florida home loans over long time frames.

In contrast, the Florida Association of Realtors compiles data for all sales by Realtors, and its reports are not necessarily an apples-to-apples comparison between time periods, according to Stan Smith, professor of finance at the University of Central Florida. Smith issued his own report analyzing the data as it relates to the Central Florida housing market.

Smith said different types of houses may be selling better in different time periods, and the federal report makes for a better comparison tool.

He said the latest numbers from OFHEO indicate there is no bubble bursting or about to burst, and that Florida mortgage demand remains strong.

“The current numbers suggest that, in general, Central Florida housing markets are currently experiencing the soft landing that many hoped for,” Smith said. “As we watch the effects of higher inventories and discounts on new homes, it is possible that the situation may change. For right now, the Central Florida housing market looks like a good investment, particularly as one’s investment horizon increases.”

“It may be raining, but the sky’s not falling yet,” he added.

Nationally, OFHEO said home prices were 7.73 percent higher in the third quarter of 2006 than they were one year earlier.

Across the nation, they were up 0.86 percent from the second quarter of 2006 to the third quarter of 2006. The quarterly increase is the lowest since the second quarter of 1998. The increase for the quarter was even less in Brevard County - up 0.04 percent.

“Brevard has always been a county of opportunity,” said Gene Collins of the Melbourne Area Association of Realtors. “Real estate always has value, and it’s a great time to buy. But we’re only having a soft landing, if you believe we hit the bottom, and, let’s face it, the inventory hasn’t gone anywhere. There are more than 10,000 properties in Brevard County. Buyers are coming back, but there’s so many more homes to choose from.”

“The urgency to ‘buy quickly or it won’t be available’ is gone, so that makes for a fabulous time for buyers,” Collins said. “It’s all on their side of the ledger. Short-term [Florida mortgage loan rates] are down, and you have a lot of Realtors who want to work with buyers.”

The average rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage is hovering around 6.25 percent, still a relatively low level, according to Freddie Mac. Various surveys relay information about local home sales, and the amount of inventory on hand, but home price appreciation is something that regards the home equity investment, Smith said.

The Brevard County housing market continued to linger in the doldrums in November, according to Florida Today, which obtained the latest stats from the Home Builders & Contractors Association of Brevard.

The number of housing construction permits issued throughout Brevard County in November was 235, down from 613 permits in November 2005 and down from a short-lived increase of 512 permits in October of this year.

Of the 235 building permits issued last month, 201 were for single-family homes - the lowest number for single-family construction in any month this year. The 201 permits in November were down sharply from earlier this year, when more than 400 single-family home permits were being issued each month.

“It’s been pretty serious. It’s going to get a little bit more serious before it gets better,” said Franck Kaiser, the association’s CEO.

How serious is it? The number of Florida mortgage foreclosures in Brevard County has increased in recent months as housing prices have fallen and sales have slowed since last year, according to Kaiser and others in the local real estate industry. In places such as Palm Bay, “For Rent” signs have become a somewhat common sight in front of homes.

A lot of the Brevard housing slump stems from investors who bought homes last year - when prices peaked - and they haven’t been able to sell at a profit, or break even, since. The

“We’ve seen a spike in foreclosures,” said Sue Pierce, owner and principal broker at Integrity Home Loans in Melbourne. “I just saw a foreclosures list with about 200 people on it from the Palm Bay area. A lot of them are investors who are stuck in the market… It’s not normal to have that many on a foreclosure list. Usually, you’ll see only a handful of names.”

It’s not just investors, and it’s not just happening on the Space Coast.

A new study by the Center for Responsible Lending found that 2.2 million home owners nationwide will lose their homes due to foreclosures in the subprime lending market.

According to the non-profit group, risky bad credit Florida home loan practices have played a part in “the worst foreclosure crisis” in the modern market - projecting that one of five subprime loans issued in the state from 2005 and 2006 will ultimately fail.

On the bright side, Pierce said she is beginning to see signs of new life in the Brevard County market. Kaiser said he expects home sales and prices to pick up a bit in the first half of 2007, but substantial increases could take longer.

Ingo Winzer, president of The Local Market Monitor, a Massachusetts firm that tracks real estate market trends, said in many areas, the decline in prices was accompanied by a decrease in population from people moving out of an area, and Florida does not have that problem.

That’s why the Florida housing market downturn should not last as long as in some other states, where housing prices were flat for up to a decade following a market decline. Instead, Florida has been more like the stock market, where investors treated housing like a “speculative commodity.”

In Brevard County, the median sales price of an existing single-family home in October was $212,400, down 11 percent from $238,200 in October 2005.

Condominium prices dropped to a median of $179,000 in October, down 17 percent from $214,400 in October 2005, according to the latest statistics from the Florida Association of Realtors.

It’s all relative, after all.

A just-released federal study indicates the Brevard County housing market — while not as strong as it was in recent years — remains in the top third in the country for price appreciation over the last year.

The study, which is conducted every three months by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO), found the value of homes in Brevard County rose by 9.67 percent from the third quarter of 2005 to the third quarter of 2006. That ranked Brevard in the top third of U.S. metro areas in the study — or 81st out of 275.

The findings differ sharply from data compiled by the Florida Association of Realtors, which showed a 10.8 percent drop in home resale prices during the past year.

The difference reflects how the two studies are done.

The OFHEO index is based on repeated sales on the same property over time, for single-family properties that were financed or refinanced with Florida home loans issued by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored secondary mortgage buyers. The agency’s index attempts to look at the experience on the same homes over long time frames.

By contrast, the Florida Association of Realtors study compiles data for all sales by Realtors, and its reports are not necessarily an apples-to-apples comparison between time periods, according to Stan Smith, Professor of Finance at the University of Central Florida. Smith issued a report analyzing the data as it relates to Central and East-Central Florida.

Smith said different types of houses may be selling better in different time periods, and the federal report makes for a better comparison tool.

He said the latest numbers from OFHEO indicate there is no housing bubble bursting or about to burst, and that Florida mortgage activity is healthy in this part of the state.

The current numbers suggest that, in general, Central Florida housing markets are currently experiencing the soft landing that many hoped for,” Smith said. “As we watch the effects of higher inventories and discounts on new homes, it is possible that the situation may change. But, for right now, the Central Florida housing market looks like a good investment, particularly as one’s investment horizon increases.”

Nationally, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight said home prices were 7.73 percent higher in the third quarter of 2006 than they were one year earlier. They were up 0.86 percent from the second quarter of 2006 to the third quarter of 2006 nationally. The quarterly increase is the lowest since the second quarter of 1998.

The quarterly increase was even less in Brevard — up 0.04 percent.

“Brevard has always been the county of opportunity,” said Gene Collins, President of the Melbourne Area Association of Realtors. “Real estate always has value, and it’s a great time to buy. But we’re only having a soft landing, if you believe we hit the bottom, and, let’s face it, the inventory hasn’t gone anywhere. There are more than 10,000 properties in Brevard County. Buyers are coming back, but there’s so many more homes to choose from that sellers have to be realistic.”

The average rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate Florida home mortgage fell to 6.14 percent this week, the lowest rate since January, according to data compiled by mortgage agency Freddie Mac.

Collins said he expects January to be a strong time for seller, but they have to price their houses smartly.

“Just because a guy next door got $300,000 for his home last July doesn’t mean you’ll get that in January 2007,” Collins said. “You have to be realistic.”

Smith said various surveys relay information about Brevard home sales, as well as inventory on hand, but home price appreciation is something that regards the equity investment.

“There are six existing homes (sold) for every new one built,” Smith said. “So there is a lot of interest in this information.”

The Brevard County housing market continued to slow last month, according to figures released yesterday by the Florida Association of Realtors.

Compared with a year earlier, home sales fell for both single-family homes and condominiums in October. So did the median selling price — the point where half the homes sell for more, half for less. However, residents and agents need not sound the alarm just yet. While the news was disappointing to an extent, there were some positive aspects to the data.

For one, inventory remained stable. In addition, the median-selling price in October of $212,400 was higher than the September price of $206,100. In October 2005, the median sales price was $238,200. The September-to-October jump in the median sales prices was the first increase since a May-to-June bump to $232,900 from $228,300.

There’s more, according to the Florida Association of Realtors:

• October sales fell 8 percent, to 472 from 512 a year earlier.
• Condominium sales year over year plunged 69 percent in October, falling to 85 transactions from 273 in October 2005.
• The median price for condos in Brevard County dropped 17 percent, dipping to $179,000 from $214,400 at this point in 2005.

While a market slowdown is never perceived as good news for people trying to sell their homes, there are some decent points to a cooling Florida real estate market.

Namely, people who previously were priced out of the market can find new opportunities to buy properties. A Florida mortgage is going to be expensive no matter what, but declines of a few thousand dollars can make all the difference to those trying to qualify.

For those trying to sell a home or a condominium, many are reducing their prices and not expecting the windfalls they might have received a year or two years ago. The record median sales price in Brevard is $248,700, set in August 2005.

Local statistics for Brevard County show housing inventory has dipped slightly with the combined numbers for single-family homes, condos and townhouses for sale falling to 10,728 this month from 10,910 in October.

Gene Collins, president of the Melbourne Area Association of Realtors (MAAR) said today there currently are 7,504 single-family homes, 2,539 condominiums and 685 townhouses listed for sale in Brevard. That compares with 7,704 single-family homes, 2,510 condos and 696 townhouses listed for sale in Brevard a month ago.

Now through early next year traditionally is a slow period for real estate as people concern themselves more with the holidays than buying or selling a home. Collins said there is a significant number of potential buyers who most likely are waiting until early next year to make an offer.

“We still have to convince sellers we’re in a new phase and the asking prices they had last year are probably not realistic now,” Collins said.

You don’t have to tell that to Daryl Adkins. He’s been trying to sell his three-bedroom home for more than a year and has dropped the asking price of $325,000 to $238,500.

“It’s slow all over the county because there is so much on the market,” Adkins said. “Higher taxes and insurance costs aren’t doing us any justice either.”

Two reports released Monday showed fairly significant declines in the Brevard County housing market during the third quarter.

Although the numbers vary, both reports — covering July, August and September — spotlight where the once-hot housing market has gone.

The Florida Association of Realtors said sales dropped 34 percent in the third fiscal quarter, compared with the same three-month period in 2005. There were 1,490 single-family homes sold in the third quarter of this year, down from 2,243 in the same period a year ago.

• In addition, the median sales price dropped 9 percent in that period, to $215,500 from $237,800 a year ago.
• The Brevard median sales price fell to $193,600 in the third quarter, from $212,800 during the third quarter of 2005.

Brevard’s real estate market mirrors what’s happening in many areas of the Sunshine State, where home sales — fueled by low Florida home mortgage rates and creative loans — once were red hot, but since have lost steam.

Lance VandeBerg, the incoming president of the Space Coast Association of Realtors, said that although no one has a crystal ball for the local real estate market, most Realtors expect a turnaround in January.

“We’re starting to enter our slow period for the holidays,” said VandeBerg. “Florida mortgage rates are still good, so we’re hoping things will turn around in January.”

Jason Hart, a co-owner of the Suntree-based Hart to Hart Real Estate, said sales have picked up in the past few weeks, but one thing he noticed about the Brevard County market is there still is a considerable amount of new-home inventory that must be absorbed.

Also, there are more positive comments about the Florida housing market, especially around Brevard County, from out-of-state buyers vs. local sellers.

“The people coming down to the area are just looking for a good deal. The locals are awaiting to see what the market conditions are going to do,” Hart said.

Brevard’s record-high median sales price was $248,700, set in August 2005, according to the Florida Association of Realtors. The median price for home sales in September, the latest monthly statistics available, was $206,100.

Because buyers have more choice and inventories have gone up, sellers have to reduce their prices and negotiate when buyers make an offer where once they didn’t.

Like most of the Sunshine State, the Brevard County housing market, which was looking steady until recently, isn’t showing immediate signs of bouncing back from a sharp decline suffered this summer.

The decline in the area’s housing market is across the board. Compared with a year earlier, existing-home sales, condo sales, permits for new home construction and home prices were all down sharply in Brevard County.

Below is a look at the Brevard market by the numbers, according to the monthly Florida Association of Realtors report released Monday.

In summation, it doesn’t look good. Even as average Florida home loan rates have subsided considerably in recent weeks, home sales in Brevard dropped 32 percent compared to a year earlier, with 527 recorded sales compared with 770 during the same period last year. In addition…

• The median sales price slipped 12 percent to $220,000 from $248,700 a year earlier.
• Brevard condominium sales fell 85 percent, dropping to 36 transactions compared with 248 a year earlier.
• The median condo price dropped 7 percent, to $186,700 from $201,300.

The dramatic slowdown also was evidenced not just in overall home sales, but in permits for new home filings in Brevard, which fell 64 percent in August, compared with the same month last year. The Home Builders & Contractors Association of Brevard said 256 building permits were filed last month compared with 712 a year earlier.

A slowdown in home construction has led to widespread staffing reductions among builders, as well as a marked decrease in work for subcontractors in Brevard County and other segments of the once-booming, now-shifting Florida housing market, housing officials say.

“We’ve experienced more people looking for work in the trades in the last three month than we’ve seen in the last four years. We had a great market, and it’s amazing that it lasted that long,” said Dave Armstrong, secretary of the Florida Home Builders Association and a local home builder himself.

With the market slowdown, some small contractors have gone out of business, and the bigger firms have been cutting costs by reducing staffing.

“This is just the beginning. I think you’re going to see a little bit more of that,” said Franck Kaiser, CEO of the Home Builders & Contractors Association of Brevard.

If there was any doubt that Brevard County’s housing boom has ended, a new construction report should squash it. Housing construction permitting in Brevard dropped in June to its lowest one-month level in nearly four years, according to the latest housing activity report from the Home Builders & Contractors Association of Brevard.

• A total of 374 permits for single-family homes, condos and apartment units were issued across the county in June, the lowest total since 362 permits were issued in September 2002, statistics show.
• With 3,073 permits issued in the first half of 2006, Brevard is on pace for 6,146 housing permits this year, which would be down by more than 2,500 permits from 2005 and the lowest total since 2003.
• Most of the permits issued are for single-family homes — there have been 2,461 from January through June of this year.
• That puts Brevard on pace for 4,922 single-family home permits in 2006, which would be down from a record 7,273 permits in 2005 and the lowest total since 2002.

Yes, it’s officially a buyer’s market now. After two years of sharp gains, local housing prices have leveled off in the past year, and some industry officials think it could be 2008 before the dynamics of the market change back to the favor of the seller. In other words, don’t expect the rampant appreciation seen from 2001-2005 to return before then, if at all.

With price increases drying up, investors are done flipping and are now in the midst of canceling their purchases, forgoing their security deposits and backing out of deals. They are doing so instead of taking on Florida home loans and riding it out while waiting for prices to go up again so they can turn a profit.

Some flippers who already bought homes are being forced to rent them out while waiting for the next upturn in the market.

For prospective home buyers, the time to take advantage of the housing market has come, as the upside of all this turmoil is that builders, with an excess of inventory, are more willing to negotiate on price and other perks.

“Plain and simple, the sudden slowdown in the housing market has created excess inventory,” said Mark Neubauer, President of Sales for Mercedes Homes.

“In Brevard County, Mercedes Homes has nearly 100 homes that are completed and ready for move-in. A few months ago, a buyer was lucky to get on a list to buy a home. But, now the tables have turned, and we’re experiencing a buyers’ market,” Neubauer said.

Mercedes is inviting customers to negotiate when making an offer, and is offering six months with no Florida home loan payments, as well as written price guarantees. Hence, if the base price of a house decreases before the customer closes on the sale, Mercedes will refund the difference.

According to the Home Builders & Contractors Association report, the total value of June’s housing construction permits in Brevard was $80.26 million, making it the second-lowest monthly total for 2006. The total for the first six months of 2006 is $594.60 million.

Norris Garrison, manager at Young Builders in Melbourne, said the company has not had any layoffs, but has been downsizing through attrition. Like other home builders struggling with declining sales, it is not taking on additional staff, and is not filling positions as employees have left.

“We’ve had to restructure,” Garrison said.

The Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation does not break down the number of jobs in the home-construction industry, but its latest report showed the larger category of jobs in all construction, natural resources and mining was at 18,300 in Brevard County in June, unchanged from May.

As Florida mortgage costs continue to increase, demand for housing in the area is likely to decline further. But if rates level off, and inventory levels slowly reduce, we could see a return to normalcy within the next 12-18 months. Stay tuned.