By Gwinn Volen
August home sale numbers are in, and the real estate market continues to not only be on fire but highly competitive too.
Here are the highlights for the Ponte Vedra Beach real estate market:
- The median sale price is up 24% from July 2020 and 34% from August 2019.
- Inventory of homes (months supply) is at 3 months, down 42% from last year and down 3% from July. 6 months supply is considered a balanced market, so we are in a seller's market.
- Buyer traffic is up. Showings per listing are up 35% when compared to August 2019.
What does this mean? This is a great market for a real estate agent, where many are having record years. However, it's tough, as the buyers are out there but the inventory isn't.
For those considering selling, the buyers are there if you want to sell. Multiple offer situations are becoming a regular situation when a property is appropriately priced.
Thoughts on The Housing Market Going Forward
The below charts were recently presented at a Keller Williams conference. This first chart looks at unemployment based on earnings and industry sector.
Unemployment and Earnings By Sector
The median income in Ponte Vedra Beach is over $100,000, which puts the bulk of the population in 32082 on the left of the chart in terms of the employment sector and earnings. As you can see, unemployment is in the low to within normal range at this higher-income end of the spectrum.
The second graph shows that 72% of the buying population is in the 35+ age range, which is also the least impacted by unemployment.
Breakdown of Homebuyers By Age Relative to Unemployment
The median resident agent age in Ponte Vedra is over 40 years of age, which helps explain why our area is not seeing a drop in homes sales due to financial hardship.
What this says to me, is that our particular area should likely continue to see very positive numbers in the real estate market. With inventory at historic lows, and relocations at historic highs, barring some additional 2020 disaster (never say never), the real estate outlook is quite positive.