Mortgage rates in the USA have risen above 7% for the first time since 2002, which exacerbated the stagnation in the residential property market, says Sam Khater, Chief Economist at Freddie Mac, a government-funded mortgage agency. As the inflation continues, buyers are facing growing expenses across all areas, which reduces their consumer confidence. People who would like to purchase a home prefer to wait for a while and watch how the market stabilizes. This reduces both demand and prices.
In September, 20,099 homes were sold in Florida’s residential property market, which is 29% less than last September. The number of sold condominiums and townhouses also dropped by exactly 29%. The Florida Realtors platform believes that this was caused by a reduction in the number of closed deals compared to the pandemic years. During the COVID-19 epidemic, house sales did not decline even during the traditionally slow season. Now, however, when the virus is conquered, regular laws are effective in the market again.
This September, the supply of both single-family houses and condominiums / townhouses in Florida as a whole was higher than in 2021, according to the statistics from Florida Realtors. The supply of single-family houses increased by a whopping 74.9%; condominiums and townhouses, by 18%. The growth of supply was not affected even by the fact that some owners removed their listings in anticipation of the hurricane.
The median time of signing a purchase and sale contract on single-family houses in the existing homes market was 22 days in September, while this indicator was only 10 days in the same month of 2021. The median time of closing the deals on condos and townhouses in the resale housing market also increased to 21 days compared to 14 days last September.
In time, the greater availability of homes will hopefully reduce the obstacles to buyers, such as high interest rates on mortgages and growing prices.