Melbourne Area Blog

As seen in my previous posts, the number of home sales in Brevard County continue to show gains from the same month a year ago. Up 19% in May. This trend has continued for the past eight out of nine months. The driving factor is first that Brevard homes are under valued (see previous post), the median price of homes in Brevard County are down 24% compared to 2008 and interest rates have been historically low.

In the past few weeks interest rates spiked to just under 6% and now have stabilized to around 5.5%. The Fed has been buying mortgage backed bonds (yes, we are purchasing our own debt) issued by Fannie Mae in order to keep those interest rates down. It remains to be seen how long this practice can continue. For those in the market to purchase a home it would be wise to keep an eye on the mortgage rates and lock in if the rates start to move higher.

Inventory of resale homes has fallen considerably this year. We are now well under 4800 homes and look to be under 4700 soon through out the county. I have received many emails from those who are on an automated email program wondering why they have not received many notifications of new listings or price reductions. This month there has been a lack of new listings coming on the market. True, we are heading out of our peak season and there are many homes still on the market. The new listings that do come on the market and are priced at market value are moving quickly and in some instances we are seeing multiple offers again. The majority of sales are under $200,000 although there has been some movement recently on the upper end & water front homes.

I have received many questions regarding the government programs in place for first time home buyer or mortgage assistance. Stay tuned for the next post!

May Real Estate Stats

Following are the statistics for real estate listings in Brevard County for May 2009. Also, the number of real estate sales in Brevard County for the same time period.

New Listings Single Family         995

Sold Listings Single Familt          636

New Listings Condos                 265

Sold Listings Condos                 100

New Listings Townhomes            73

Sold Listings Condos                  37 

A recent study conducted by IHS Global Insight based in Lexington, MA show Brevard County Home prices undervalued by 19.3%. The company considers "fairly valued" to be in the plus or minus 14% range.

IHS analysts consider home prices, interest rates, population density and household incomes among other factors to determine where prices should be for an area.

Existing home sales were once again up, 17% in April, and May looks to be another strong month.

Although prices continued to decline - 29% compared to April 2008 there appears to be a leveling in some areas. The time a home is on the market has decreased, especially those homes that are priced at market value today. Inventory has decreased considerably since the first of the year.

Higher sales numbers and lower inventory indicate a leveling off. The bad news is the jump in interest rates last Friday by a full 1/2% to 5.5%.