Housing industry report surprises Wall Street

First, new house construction staged a rally in May after three straight months in the doldrums.

Then, economists were surprised Monday when the Commerce Department announced that sales of new single-family homes increased by 4.6 percent last month. They had been forecasting a slowdown in the face of rising mortgage rates.

Read the rest of the article here:
http://heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060627/BUSINESS/606270343

Does the newspaper love a bad real estate market?

I would imagine in the 2004/2005 real estate boom years the Sarasota Herald Tribune ad revenues from Realtors were way off. Homes were selling quickly and there was little to no need to advertise. It was about this time when I noticed the newspapers could not say a positive thing about the real estate market. The word "bubble" seem to pop up every day in some fashion. They were putting negative spins on every positive event in the Sarasota real estate market.

Now that the market has slowed down the real estate and classified sections of the newspaper are very thick with advertisements. I am guessing their ad revenues are shooting through the roof. Don't you think the newspaper likes a slow real estate market? Do they purposely write negative articles? Alot of people read their articles and take them as fact. They have the ability to influence and scare people. I wish they would report the news without an agenda.

How many properties have sold this year?

There seems to be the misconception that nothing is selling. You read doom and gloom in the Sarasota Herald Tribune regardless if we are in a boom market or a slow market. Here are some statistics on the number of properties that have sold so far this year in Sarasota. I ran a search for sold properties in MLS for Sarasota, Nokomis, Osprey, Casey Key, Lido Key, Longboat Key, Bird Key, Siesta Key and Lakewood Ranch.

MLS statistics for January 1 to June 25th:

Sold Properties
1,477 single family homes
992 condos sold
23 multi-family properties
66 lots
60 commercial properties

Properties currently under contract/pending sales
478 single family homes
528 condos
19 multi-family properties
36 lots
40 commercial properties

Expired or withdrawn from the market
3,190 single family homes
1,893 condos
61 multi-family properties
207 lots
210 commercial properties

Every real estate transaction is not reported on the Sarasota MLS. New home builders and condos developers typically don't report their sales on the MLS. Properties are in fact selling. Obviously, they are not selling as quickly as the 2004/2005 boom real estate markets. It would be interesting to compare this years statistics to the 2002/2003 real estate market. There is alot more for sale now versus those years. However, much of this inventory will be taken off the market over the next year.

Sarasota MLS Stats for June 25th

Here is an ongoing look at inventory levels of houses and condos in the Sarasota area. Inventories are pretty constant.

June 25th
4,437 - single family homes for sale.

Days on Market
0 - 120 days - 2,871 homes (65%)
121 days - 180 days - 962 homes (22%)
Over 180 days - 604 homes (13%)

3,111 - condominiums for sale

Days on market
0 - 120 days - 1856 homes (60%)
121 - 180 days - 754 condos (24%)
Over 180 days - 501 condos (16%)

June 15th
4,401 - single family homes for sale
3,112 - condominiums for sale

May 30th
4,371 - single family homes for sale
3,131 - condominiums for sale

May 20th
4,380 - single family homes for sale
3,116 - condominiums for sale

May 13th
4,305 - single family homes for sale
3,105 - condominiums for sale

May 5th
4,285 - single family homes for sale
3,076 - condominiums for sale

April 29th
4,307 - single family homes for sale
3,123 - condominiums for sale

I searched Sarasota, Lakewood Ranch, Lido Key, Longboat Key, Siesta Key, Bird Key, Casey Key, Nokomis and Osprey for these numbers. MLS data is believed to be accurate but not guaranteed.