Will the Space Coast Housing Market Maintain Its Momentum?
Last week’s Existing Home Sales Report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) shows sales have dropped by 3.7% compared to the month before. This is the second consecutive month that sales have slumped.
Some see this as evidence that the red-hot real estate market may be cooling. However, there could also be a simple explanation as to why existing home sales have slowed – there aren’t enough homes to buy.
There are currently 410,000 fewer single-family homes available for sale than there were at this time last year nationally.
In Brevard County, there are over 65.9% fewer single-family homes for sale compared to this time last year while buyer demand remains strong.
“Buyer confidence is rising especially here on the Space Coast. If we had more inventory to sell the number of sales would have been much much higher” says Jennifer McCoy of McCoy Freeman Real Estate serving all of Florida’s Space Coast.
“Florida’s Space Coast continues to be a hot spot for out-of-state real estate buyers as I continue to place many of those buyers into their new Florida home,” says McCoy.
The Census Bureau recently released its Monthly New Residential Sales Report. It shows that newly constructed home sales are up 20.7% over the previous month.
Buyer demand remains strong. With more of the adult population becoming vaccinated and job creation data showing encouraging signs, existing-home inventory is expected to grow in the coming months.
What will this mean for home sales going forward?
Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) have all forecasted that total home sales (existing homes and new construction) will continue their momentum both this year and next.
Here’s a graph showing those projections
Bottom Line
Living through a pandemic has caused many to re-evaluate the importance of a home and the value of homeownership. The residential real estate market will benefit from both as we move forward.