Newsletter: Palm Coast and Flagler Home Sales Gaining Strength

The number of homes sold remains flat year-over-year, but there are fewer distressed sales, fewer cash sales, more single-family building permits, and fewer new foreclosures and completed foreclosures

Palm Coast, FL – September 15, 2014 – The Palm Coast Metro (all of Flagler County) housing market continues to become more healthy. The number of homes sold remains flat year-over-year, but there are fewer distressed sales, fewer cash sales, higher gross sales, more single-family building permits, and fewer new foreclosures and completed foreclosures.

Homes
Other parts of the state and nation might have rebounded more quickly, like a rabbit, and recovered more of their lost real estate values. Palm Coast’s recovery has been more like a tortoise. The median selling price for single-family Flagler County homes sold through MLS in August was $160,000, 9.6% above August 2013 but 50.9% above the low set in September 2011. While some regional markets have returned to their pre-recession highs, our metro is still $100,000 below its peak prices.

Here’s how the numbers stack up:

  • Homes sales closed during August – 184 homes vs. 181 in 2013
  • Median selling price – $160,000 vs. $146,000
  • Cash Sales – 39.7% of all sales vs. 47.0%
  • Aggregated cash sales – down 2.4%
  • Short Sales – 7.6% of all sales vs. 9.4%
  • Aggregated short sales – down 17.7%
  • REO (lender-owned) sales – 41.0% of all sales vs. 40.0%
  • Aggregated REO sales – up 7.3%
  • Non-distressed sales – 70.1% of all sales vs. 68.0%
  • Aggregated non-distressed sales – up 17.9%
  • Aggregate new home sales – up 10%
  • New foreclosures (all real property) – 42 filings vs. 44
  • Foreclosure completions (all real property) – 55 executed foreclosure auction sales vs. 101
  • Building permits – 40 vs. 43, but up 22.4% year-to-date
  • Absorption rate – 5.3 (months sales in inventory)

Condominiums
The median selling price for closed sales of Flagler County condominiums in August was $160,000, down from $174,750 in August one year ago. Sounds troubling, but it’s simply a good example of how accurate numbers can imply an inaccurate conclusion. I’ve written before about Flagler’s split condo market. There’s the Hammock market with mostly high-end units and there’s the “not the Hammock” market of more traditionally built (and priced) units.

Looking at the period of June through August, the overall median price for all county condos was $152,000. That’s significantly down from the same period in 2013 when the median selling price was $179,500. You will see that the change was not due to a drop in value, but to a change in the selling mix.

The number of “not in the Hammock” units sold remained steady, both in number and price. Meanwhile, the Hammock units maintained their price but suffered a 42.6% drop in unit sales during the same period.

  • Hammock units sold June through July – 18 in 2014 vs. 38 in 2013
  • Hammock condo median price – $335,000 vs. $225,500 one year ago
  • “Not in the Hammock” units sold – 65 vs. 64 one year ago
  • “Not in the Hammock” median selling price – $132,000 vs. $127,250

The decline in Hammock condo sales is partly due to the drop in sales of units in Cinnamon Beach, where a lawsuit between the condominium association and the developer over structural defects is blocking the final turnover of the entity to the property owners association.

Key local stories over the past month:

HGTV Films Four Days in Flagler Beach and A1A Corridor

Plea Agreement Ends $9M Mortgage Fraud Case Against Flagler Beach Real Estate Agent

Moving Minds Expanding in Flagler County

Letterman Announcer Alan Kalter Sports Palm Harbor Golf Attire at Connecticut Golf Tournament

Hammock Beach to Share New Lodge Plans with Club Members

Rumor: Changes on Horizon for Grand Club Golf Courses

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