Tax Credits End and Forclosures Rise
Saturday, August 14th, 2010The post-party hangover from the federal homebuyer tax credits is settling into Southwest Florida’s real estate market.
Sales of existing homes in the territory covered by the Sarasota Real estate market dropped nearly 48 percent from June to July after the window to take advantage of the tax incentives for first-time homebuyers and for those selling a home to buy another closed on April 30.
Sales fell 30 percent in Manatee County and 23 percent in Charlotte County-North Port, according to initial reports on sales data collected by the community’s respective associations.
“Removing the government incentives leaves us in the same depressed scenario that we were in at the beginning of the bust in Sarasota in September of ‘06,” McCabe said. “Florida’s real estate markets are still in the recessionary state that they were in a year and a half ago, prior to federal intervention into the housing market.”
The Sarasota-Bradenton market saw a 33 percent spike during the quarter (year over year) and a 26 percent increase from the previous three months. Charlotte County-North Port saw sales rise 12 percent from a year ago and 20 percent from the first quarter.
The subsequent decline is coming at a time when more properties are being dumped on the market by banks through foreclosure actions. That could mean trouble for a market that had been showing signs of stability. Inventory had been dropping for months, and prices had been trading in a fairly narrow range.
In the Sarasota association’s territory, for example, there was a 6.6-month inventory at the June sales pace. That rose to 10.4 months in July.
The median price in the Sarasota market was $155,000 last month, down from $175,000 in June. Total foreclosure filings in the three-county region rose to 3,349 last month, a 40 percent increase from June.