WHY DO BUYERS HAVE THE UPPER HAND IN REAL ESTATE?
As with most markets, the real estate market is affected by the law of SUPPLY AND DEMAND. Because the supply is higher than usual, and demand is lower than usual, buyers in today’s real estate market currently have the advantage. This is a change in our Southwest Florida
market because sellers have had the edge for most of the past decade. The result is slow sales as buyers can afford to take their time to buy and negotiate for the best deal.
How slow is the market? Whiskey Creek has 1,577 total homes. 887 are single-family homes, 495 are duplex villas, and 105 are condominiums. As of late October, we had 26 units ACTIVE on the market, four were PENDING sale, and 12 homes were SOLD in the past four months. This is a rate of three per month. At this rate, on average, it would take eight months to sell all the homes on the market. Six months ago, sales were occurring twice as fast at seven units per month. But there is a difference depending on the type of home you have.
Single-family homes (median list price $602,000) are moving slower than last year but are still selling well with a four- month supply on the market. Sales of Whiskey Creek and Wyldewood Lakes duplex villas were selling at a slower pace. Of the 495 units, 13 were active on the market with a median list price of $320,000, and they were selling at a rate of 1.25 per month; a 10-month supply. The 195 condos at the southern end of Whiskey Creek were selling slowest of all with seven active (median price $210,000) and only one sale in the past four months.
Homeowners who want to sell their home in this type of market must find ways to stand out from the crowd. The best thing a seller can do is to have their home in “move-in” condition and have it priced attractively. We are coming into the time of year when snowbirds return for the winter, and buyers are more active. Whiskey Creek home sales are not affected by seasonality as much as some other areas in Southwest Florida because most of our residents are full-timers. Even so, there are more nonlocal buyers and sales occur at a much faster pace in our “selling season,” especially between New Year’s and Easter. Now is the time for sellers to get positioned for the increase in sales activity and the corresponding increase in seller competition as more homes will also come on the market for the season.
December marks the end of hurricane season. Thank goodness! Whiskey Creek was spared the worst of the recent hurricanes, but some of our neighbors on the beaches and islands took another big hit. Two bad storms in two years have some people rethinking about owning a home here. Home mortgages rates, hovering near 7 percent, have not decreased as quickly as other interest rates. High insurance premiums are yet another deterrent for buyers. Lastly, markets don’t like uncertainty, and the presidential election kept everybody guessing down to the wire.
Thank goodness the election is over. The president will have a challenge uniting our country after such a divisive election. The world needs a strong America. The USA is still the greatest country in the world and Whiskey Creek is still the best place to live. Let us count our blessings, roll up our sleeves, and rally behind our new president to chart a course for an even better future.
If you have any questions or comments about this article or other real estate issues, please contact Bob Oxnard at [email protected].
