Friday, June 30, 2006

Buyers Market...

Oh yes, you have heard the rumors and they are true. We are in a buyers market, at least in the Charlotte and Sarasota county area. We have been selling real estate here for 10 years, and have never seen the market so flooded with properties for sale! What does that mean to you?? Well, it depends if you are the buyer or the seller. Not a great time for sellers to get top dollar, but for buyers, they now have many options open to them including owner financing, and lease options. Things we do not see in a strong market. Share your thoughts with us!

1 comment:

SunStateRealtyLLC said...

Region's home builders hear sobering news!

This article was from Planet Realtor Aug 3, 06. -Mary Waldeck


ORLANDO, Fla. -- Aug. 3, 2006 -- Top housing-industry economists warned home builders meeting in Orlando on Wednesday that the industry will remain weak the rest of this year and next before possibly rebounding in 2008.
Higher interest rates and declining affordability are taking a toll, said David Seiders, chief economist for the National Association of Home Builders, and David Berson, chief economist for the Federal National Mortgage Association, known as Fannie Mae.
"I'm trimming everything in our forecast," Seiders told more than 100 people attending an industry forum in the Rosen Centre Hotel preceding today's opening of the Southeast Building Conference in the Orange County Convention Center.
"The economy has slowed and will slow further. I've got it that way through next year," he said.
Seiders said cancellations of new-home sales contracts are up sharply, builder confidence has plummeted, investor-owned homes are boosting inventory to record levels and home prices are starting to slip.
"Something is seriously going on here," said Seiders, who repeated a previous warning that "it's more than an orderly downturn."
Berson took a slightly more optimistic tone during the forum but did caution that, if oil prices continue to rise and another shock hits the U.S. economy, such as bird flu or a terrorist attack, "it could tip us into recession in 2007."
Both Berson and Seiders noted that Florida has advantages over most other states, with stronger job creation and healthier in-migration of residents. Those strengths seem to be remaining in place for both the home-construction and resale markets, though the state's rapid price run-up of recent years has set the stage for a steeper decline -- and the crisis in property-insurance availability and affordability is a negative force adding to the headwinds.
Florida's recent home-price appreciation rate -- averaging about 15 percent a year for each of the past five years -- is unsustainable, Berson said, and the question now is just how much the market will slow before stabilizing.
Seiders said he continues to be concerned that the Federal Reserve's interest-rate hikes are having an unintended consequence in that they drive up the so-called core inflation rate in a respect related to the ongoing downswing in housing.
While rising interest rates increase borrowing costs and slow the economy -- as they're supposed to do -- they also shift more consumers into the rental market, boosting apartment rates, and that gets factored into the federal government's Consumer Price Index, signaling more inflation, Seiders said.
"It turns out that Fed tightening is inflationary. How crazy is that," he said.
Seiders said that while he does have confidence in new Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, Fed officials seem relatively unconcerned that interest-rate increases, aimed at combating inflation, could actually contribute to inflationary pressure. Some members of Congress have taken note, he said, but it's unclear what might be done.
The Southeast Building Conference, which officially kicks off today with educational sessions and trade-show exhibits, continues through Saturday in the convention center's West Building. The event is open only to industry professionals.



Copyright © 2006 The Orlando Sentinel, Fla. Jerry W. Jackson. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.






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