Even though we are all tempted to go all in to get a home purchase completed, there are some steps to consider before any home purchase. The graphic below does a nice job of highlighting some important considerations.
CoreLogic is forecasting low risk of our homes going down in price over the next 12 months (see chart below). Our area falls into the “very low” category, with a less than 10% chance of price depreciation. As the U.S. population continues to shift in our direction, I agree with the company’s assessment that it is much more likely we continue to see rising home prices in the next year.
The issues we are seeing in Manatee County are even more pronounced in Sarasota. There simply isn’t enough active inventory to support a balanced real estate market. While some factors are trending in the right direction, they are doing so ever so slowly. See below for more details.
We saw a major dip in YoY closed home sales in Manatee in March as the lack of active inventory continues to drag the market down for home buyers. If there is a silver lining, it is that new listings are up YoY. I would like to see active inventory levels about five times higher than they are today. With that, we would see more balance in our local market. See the infographic below for more details.
The National Association of Realtors just released its updated statistics from March. These apply to the U.S. rather than just our local market area. Below are some important snippets.