Stix ‘n Brix

Sales of existing single-family homes fell by 20% in the first quarter of 2006 compared with the same period a year earlier, reports the Florida Association of Realtors

Dr. David Scott, executive director of the Dr. Phillips Institute for the Study of American Business Activity and professor of finance at the University of Central Florida (UCF) said “Sales of existing single-family homes in Florida behaved like much of the U.S. across the 2006 first quarter. The stress points on unit sales come from two key sources: One, rising inventories of dwellings for sale and two, rising mortgage rates. On the latter, conventional mortgage rates closed the 2006 initial quarter at 6.35 percent and are trending up.”

Prices remained strong, even in the face of higher numbers of unsold homes. Statewide, the median price of a single-family home reached $248,000, up 20% from a year earlier. However, the fourth quarter of 2005 had shown a gain of 29% from the year-earlier period. Condominium sales followed a similar trend, with unit sales down 22% while the median price for those units rose 11% from a year earlier.