Investor purchases dropped almost by half year-on-year in the 1st quarter of 2023 as elevated interest rates along with declining rents and housing values ate into potential profits, according to a report from Redfin. Of total home sales, investors had a 17.6% share.
Sentiment is down, does that mean the prospect of higher returns is up?
According to a recent Gallup poll, real estate remains a top investment choice for Americans, although its popularity has decreased to a five-year low. In April, 34% of respondents selected real estate as the best place to invest their money, out of options including stocks, bonds, gold, and savings accounts. This poll has consistently ranked real estate as the preferred investment for the past decade.
The single-family home market in Sarasota County moved largely in lockstep with Manatee in April. We saw the same offsetting market data that leads to neither sellers or buyers having overwhelming negotiating leverage. As we head into the summer season, it looks like the Sarasota County market will remain in a healthy balance. The infographic from Florida Realtors below contains more detailed information on the results from April.
While new listings remain relatively low, the market for single-family homes in Manatee County is continuing to be very healthy. We are getting a mixed bag of signals in the transaction data, which continues to indicate that neither buyers or sellers have a significant advantage in negotiating power. For example, while home sales are down YoY, the median sales price is up significantly. Another set of offsetting data is that while cash sales are down YoY, new listings are also down. As long as we have some statistics that lean towards a buyer’s market and others leading to a seller’s market, we are likely to continue to see market balance in Manatee. See the below infographic from Florida Realtors for more information.
Due, in part, to the ongoing shortage of available inventory that is keeping home prices elevated, many economists predict that the housing market is more likely to undergo a correction from the double-digit percentage increases in home prices witnessed over the past few years, rather than experiencing a crash.