Seller Confidence Returns to Greet Seasonal Demand
“The good news is that the new listings coming onto the market are evenly split between single family and condos,” said Mike Hughes, Vice President and General Manager for Downing-Frye Realty, Inc. “Inventory in both these areas have doubled since last January so buyers looking to purchase in either sector this year will have many more options.”
Closed sales in January decreased 33.8 percent to 555 homes from 839 homes in January 2022. But the spike in new listings is a promising turn of events as they pushed inventory in January up 122.7 percent to 2,699 properties from 1,212 properties in January 2022. Broker analysts reviewing the report are optimistic and say it potentially could result in a better-than-expected winter home buying season.
“Inventory between December and January grew nearly 10 percent,” said NABOR® President Nick Bobzien, a broker associate at Downing-Frye Realty. “With the number of showings nearly doubling in January 2023 compared to December 2022, buyers were excited to see new listings come on the market and took advantage of the opportunity as seen by the huge increase in pending sales over the same period.”
After seven months of equable activity, pending sales rebounded as the new year began. In fact, pending sales in January were remarkably higher than pending sales not only in December (682), but also compared to January 2019 (660) and January 2020 (892). Though compared to last January’s phenomenal sales activity, pending sales this January decreased 20.5 percent to 1,092 pending sales from 1,373 pending sales in January 2022.
Pent-up demand was evident in January. While showings decreased 20 percent compared to January 2022, they nearly doubled compared to December’s reported showings. Of course, another factor contributing to increased contracts (pending sales) during January were the 1,092 price decreases reported for the month, which brought the overall percent of current list price value down to 95.8 percent, a 4.2 percent decrease from 100 percent in January 2022.
The NABOR® January 2023 Market Report provides comparisons of single-family home and condominium sales (via the Southwest Florida MLS), price ranges, and geographic segmentation and includes an overall market summary. NABOR® sales statistics are presented in chart format, including these overall (single-family and condominium) findings for 2023:
According to the report, the only home type that experienced a rise in closed sales during January compared to last year were condominiums in the $500,000 to $1 million price category, which increased 4.2 percent. Interestingly, the median closed price of single-family homes decreased 2.7 percent between December and January, but the median closed price for condominiums increased 6 percent. Not surprising, due to high demand for properties in the $300,000 and below price category, condominiums in this price category had the highest reported median closed price increase (16.1 percent) and were the only price category that reported a decrease in inventory (13.1 percent) in January.
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